


One Day They'll Know Your Name

by honestlyidkwhatusernametouse



Series: Name of the Game [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Albus Dumbledore Bashing, But Only a Little Bit - Freeform, Crack, Gen, Hufflepuff Neville Longbottom, Ravenclaw Hermione Granger, Slytherin Harry Potter, dates don't follow canon, he just has too much to do, he's a good guy, it's too late now, more tags as updates come, this started as a joke, we have too many ideas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 26,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28470972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestlyidkwhatusernametouse/pseuds/honestlyidkwhatusernametouse
Summary: What if Harry Potter hates the fame that comes with his name? What if he makes a joke, and it sticks? It's too late to go back now.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter
Series: Name of the Game [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085444
Comments: 58
Kudos: 295





	1. What's Your Name, Man?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This kinda started as a joke but then we actually got ideas for it so yeehaw. By we I mean the group on the discord I'm in. Hope you enjoy! Read and review please!

Harry was cramped in his cupboard. It had been at least two days since he had been out, after the zoo incident and Vernon’s subsequent belt usage. He shot upright, nearly hitting his head on the staircase above him when his door was nearly knocked down with the force of what he assumed was Vernon banging on it. He heard the door unlock and saw it open with a slam as Vernon reached in and grabbed him bodily by the shirt and threw him into the kitchen.

“Get up and make breakfast, you lazy _freak _,” Vernon spat. Harry quickly complied and pulled himself out of the cramped space, giving himself only a few seconds to stretch his legs, even if he had barely outgrown the length of the cupboard with how small he was from the malnutrition. As he was cooking the bacon, the mail slot opened and the muffled sound of paper dropping on carpet was heard.__

__“Go get the mail, you ungrateful boy,” Petunia hissed from the table where she sat supervising his cooking. Harry quickly plated the just done bacon and put it on the table for the Dursleys to eat. He then hurried to the door and shuffled quickly through the mail, catching sight of a strange letter addressed to him. He quickly threw it into his cupboard on his way past and gave the rest of the mail to Vernon. He then began cleaning up after himself, working his way through the kitchen, knowing it would be one of the first things on Petunia’s list._ _

__After his chores were done and he had his three minutes to use the bathroom, he was shoved back into his cupboard for the rest of the night. He waited until he heard the earthshattering snores from Vernon before he turned on his flickering light to read the letter._ _

__

___HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY  
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)  
Dear Mr. Potter,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.  
Yours sincerely,  
Minerva McGonagall  
Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress_ _ _

___HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY  
UNIFORM  
First-year students will require:  
1.Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
2.One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
3.One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4.One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)  
Please note that all pupils’ clothes should carry name tags._ _ _

___COURSE BOOKS  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:  
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk  
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch  
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore  
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander  
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble  
OTHER EQUIPMENT  
1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales  
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.  
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS ____ _

____ _ _

____Harry sat in his cot for a few minutes, just staring at the wall in front of him. What was this? An elaborate prank? What did this ‘Minerva McGonagall’ mean “we await your owl?” Owl? What was going on? He decided to write a reply and see if there were any owls hanging around in the morning. If there were, and they seemed like they would take a letter, which seemed so weird, he would assume it was a real thing. If there were no owls, he would assume it was a Dudley prank or something and not worry about it. He double checked the Dursleys were asleep, then picked the lock on his door and slipped out, headed to where the paper and pens were kept. He quickly penned a reply, asking for confirmation and a professor to help him get the supplies, sending it to the professor who signed the letter. He then looked out the window and saw an owl watching him. He held up the letter, and the owl hopped closer to the window. Harry triple checked for the sound of snoring from upstairs and cracked the window just enough to get his hand through. The owl nuzzled at his hand and held out its foot. Harry carefully wrapped the letter around the owl’s foot and found a little bit of string connected to its foot, which he used to tie the letter with._ _ _ _

____The owl flew off and Harry sat back after closing the window. He went back to his cupboard and made sure to lock it behind him. He fell asleep shortly afterwards and didn’t wake until he heard a knock on the door._ _ _ _

____Harry heard Petunia open the door. “Can I help you?” she asked._ _ _ _

____The woman spoke with a gentle voice. “Yes. I am Professor Sprout. I am looking for Harry Potter. Is he here?”_ _ _ _

____Petunia scowled. “Now what has that good for nothing brat done now?”_ _ _ _

____Professor Sprout paused. “He hasn’t done anything except reply to our letter. May I speak with him?”_ _ _ _

____“Letter? What letter? We haven’t gotten any letter,” Petunia said. “Come in, I suppose. I’ll go get the boy.”_ _ _ _

____Professor Sprout’s footsteps faded away into the living room while Petunia’s went upstairs and then back down, stopping for only a moment outside his cupboard, and the lock was opened. Knowing to be discrete or he would face the consequences, Harry opened the door and slipped out, running quickly to the bathroom to wash his face at least. When he got back to the living room, Petunia and Professor Sprout were talking mostly amiably, especially on the professor’s part, although she seemed to be underwhelmed with Petunia’s hospitality. He grabbed a kitchen chair to sit on, knowing that Petunia would not be happy with him if he sat on one of the comfortable sofas in the living room. He waited until a lull in the conversation before announcing his presence to the professor, knowing Petunia had known the moment he entered the room. She had a sense for when Harry wasn’t doing work. He watched Professor Sprout for a moment, wondering what she taught at the school, ‘Hogwarts,’ he reminded himself.  
“Hello, Mr. Potter. My name is Pomona Sprout. I am the Head of Hufflepuff House and the Herbology Professor at Hogwarts.”_ _ _ _

____“Hogwarts! How _dare _you speak of that vile school in my house!” Petunia burst out. “We were told to keep the boy from hearing of that world that killed my freak sister and her freak of a husband! Now you burst in here without a by your leave and just tell him everything?”___ _ _ _

______Harry had never seen Petunia this angry. But what was that about being told to keep information about… what world? What was Petunia talking about now?  
Professor Sprout looked almost as angry as Petunia, although it seemed a strange look on her. She seemed like a woman who was never angry, which meant that when she was angry it would be worse even than when Vernon was mad. He did not want to see that. He quickly caught her attention._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You said you were the Herbology teacher? Is that like plants? Aunt Petunia has a garden that she likes to tend. I help her out.” His voice was hoarse from disuse, but it successfully distracted the professor. He sighed in relief as she began answering his questions. He began leading her towards the door as she continued to explain. He waved to Petunia to keep up appearances, and the walked out the front door._ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment if you liked it, and even if you didn't.  
> 


	2. Call Me by Your Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry gets to Diagon Alley and meets goblins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Read on and please review

Professor Sprout and Harry boarded a bus to get to London, and continued to talk quietly about Hogwarts, telling Harry about the teachers and what they taught. She also told him about the wizarding world in general, and how he was famous. Harry didn’t like that he was famous because his parents were dead, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do about it. He also learned he had a godfather. 

“Your godfather’s name is Sirius Black. He was put into Azkaban, the wizarding prison, for betraying your parents. I don’t know why he did it. He and your father were such close friends,” she explained.

Harry frowned. “How did he betray them?”

The professor began the tale of Voldemort, and how Harry’s parents had hidden from him and Sirius told Voldemort where they were hidden. “You killed him that night, somehow. That’s why you’re famous. You bear the mark from that night on your forehead. After that, Sirius was the first to find you, apparently. He gave you to Hagrid, and went after Peter Pettigrew, one of their other friends. He then proceeded to blow up a street full of thirteen muggles and Peter, while laughing hysterically. Only a finger was found of Peter, poor lad.”

Harry was silent for a few minutes, processing. He had seen many instances where blame was passed on unfairly, usually from Dudley, and this seemed, well, too perfect. “So Sirius was the _only _person who knew where they were? You said they were the best of friends in school. Is there any way I can see what was said at his trial? And only a finger was left from Pettigrew?”__

__Professor Sprout paused. “I could send an owl to Madam Bones,” she finally said. “She would know what was said, and as his godson, and son of the people he betrayed, I think you have a right to know what happened.”_ _

__Harry continued to think, knowing that any explosion wouldn’t leave _only _a finger. There would also be other body parts strewn about. If he was right, this Peter Pettigrew character was able to somehow make sure that he could disappear and make it look like Sirius was guilty. “Yes,” he finally said. “I would like to see what the trial uncovered.” He was quiet after that, and they soon reached their stop. Professor Sprout led the way to an old bar that seemed very out of place in the busy street, and no one seemed able to see it. They went in and were greeted by the bartender who introduced himself as Tom.___ _

____“This is Harry,” Professor Sprout introduced. “We’re headed to Diagon Alley to get his school supplies.”_ _ _ _

____Tom looked at Harry and seemed to freeze for a moment before regaining his composure. “Harry Potter?" he asked. “Here in my bar? It’s an honor, sir, truly. Thank you so much for getting rid of You-Know-Who.”_ _ _ _

____Harry mentally groaned. Great. Was this what it was going to be like from now on, getting randomly thanked by everyone on the street? Suddenly, it was like the entire bar came to life._ _ _ _

____"Harry Potter? Here?”_ _ _ _

____“What an honor! To meet _the Harry Potter!”__ _ _ _

_____“He hasn’t been seen in nearly ten years!”_ _ _ _ _

_____Many other similar comments were made and Harry suddenly felt very trapped as the entire bar crowded him. He began backing towards the door they had come in, when Professor Sprout finally made it to his side after being shoved back by the crowd._ _ _ _ _

_____“Here now, back up! You’re crowding the poor boy! He’s only eleven! Back up I said!”_ _ _ _ _

_____The crowd finally backed away and Harry breathed more easily. “Thanks, Professor,” he said gratefully._ _ _ _ _

_____“No problem, dearie. These people really should know better,” she said, pointedly looking towards where the crowd was still staring at Harry. “Let’s get moving on then, shall we?”_ _ _ _ _

_____Harry nodded, and the exited out the back of the bar, into a small alleyway. There was a wall at the end that Professor Sprout hurried towards. Harry quickly caught up with her and she pulled out what he assumed was a wand, tapping some bricks, seemingly at random, but he knew that it wasn’t. She tapped them in a way that indicated that she had done it many times before._ _ _ _ _

_____As soon as she tapped the last brick, the wall seemed to melt into itself, opening a passageway into what looked like a whole other world. People bustled past in long dress like clothing, which he assumed were the robes listed on his list, going in and out of colorful shops with old looking signs. Professor Sprout quickly led him to a large white building, which she had explained was Gringotts, the wizarding bank, run by goblins, which appeared to be short humanoid creatures with long noses and fingers._ _ _ _ _

_____They joined a line, and shortly approached the teller. “We’re here to see Mr. Potter’s vault,” Professor Sprout said. She held out a key and turned to Harry as the goblin inspected it. “That is your vault key. Professor Dumbledore has been holding it since your parents died, as he didn’t want you to lose it. Now that you’re coming to school, you can have it.” The key was handed back to Professor Sprout, who immediately gave it to Harry._ _ _ _ _

_____“If you would follow Griphook, here, he will take you to your vault,” the goblin at the desk sneered, motioning towards another goblin who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Harry and Professor Sprout obediently followed. They soon reached a deep cavern with a track going down through it and a rickety looking cart next to the ledge in front of them. Griphook got into the cart at the back, and Harry quickly followed, with the professor following more reluctantly. As soon as she was sitting, the cart took off, speeding down the track, downward into the cavern. Harry whooped in joy. He had never been on a rollercoaster before and this was the most fun he had had as far back as he could remember._ _ _ _ _

_____Too soon for Harry, the cart stopped in front of a door with a tiny keyhole in the middle of it. He followed the goblin out of the cart and towards the door, Professor Sprout following more slowly, obviously not having enjoyed the ride as much as Harry had. He stifled a giggle at her green face, knowing better than to openly laugh at an adult. He had learned that lesson hard and fast when he was nine. He had missed school for three whole days for that. The only reason it hadn’t been longer was because it was the weekend._ _ _ _ _

_____When he reached the door, he grabbed his key and gave it to the goblin who had yet to say anything, but was expectantly holding out his hand. Griphook put the key in the keyhole and the door melted open. The goblin handed the key back to Harry as he stared in awe at the piles of gold inside. Professor Sprout had finally caught up to them and handed him a pouch._ _ _ _ _

_____“I would suggest taking about two hundred galleons. It should pay for your school supplies and a little extra,” she said softly. “It’s your birthday in a day or so, right? I’ll buy you something small as a gift. Maybe an owl so you can send and receive letters.” Seeing he was about to protest, she cut him off gently. “I insist. It’s you birthday. You should get a gift, and an owl is something you can use.”_ _ _ _ _

_____Harry finally nodded, then counted out two hundred of the gold coins that she had explained about on the bus ride. They then got back into the cart and flew back up the track, Harry grinning in delight at the speed. Professor Sprout smiled softly at the pure joy on his face once she got her stomach back where it belonged._ _ _ _ _

_____They exited Gringotts and the professor turned to Harry. “Where do you want to start dearie? The robes will likely take the most time, except for maybe the wand, depending on how long it takes for a wand to pick you, so if you want to start there to get it over with, we could, or we could head to the other stores to get your supplies and finish at the robe shop.”_ _ _ _ _

_____Harry thought for a moment, then asked, “Is there a place where I can get something to hold all of my stuff once it’s bought? I think that would be a good place to start.”_ _ _ _ _

_____Professor Sprout agreed and they headed to the first shops._ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: We meet our favorite blond!


	3. I Call Your Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry gets his robes and a wand and meets our favorite blond!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I have a very good idea of how this is going to go, so updates should be pretty steady. For now, there'll probably be one a day because I'm on break and I don't have much else to do, but as school starts updates will slow down significantly to about one a week, sometimes two, depending on how school work goes.

After getting a trunk, as well as his other supplies except for the wand and clothing, Harry and Professor Sprout headed towards Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions to get his robes. He had decided to also get a few clothes for when he wasn’t in school since he still had a bit of extra money and he only had Dudley’s hand-me-downs, which dwarfed him. 

Entering the store, he was greeted by a voice from the back of the store. “Come in! I’ll be with you in just a moment!”

Professor Sprout turned to him. “You get your robes sorted and I’ll go next door and get you an owl, dearie.” 

Harry nodded and turned toward the older woman who walked toward him. “Hogwarts, dearie? Come on over and step up here and I’ll get your measurements,” she said. “I’m just finishing up with another first year.”

Harry presumed this was Madam Malkin and followed her to the stool. He noticed a blond boy on the stool next to his. He nodded to the boy as Madam Malkin bustled around him with a tape measure floating behind her.

“I’m Draco Malfoy. What house do you think you’ll be in?” the boy suddenly asked.

Harry looked over again and answered, “I’m Harry. I don’t know what house I’ll be in, but I doubt I’ll be in Gryffindor. From what I’ve been told it’s full of rambunctious and loud people.” 

The blond boy, Draco, Harry reminded himself, nodded. “All Malfoys have been in Slytherin and I suspect that I’ll follow them. We’re the house of the cunning and ambitious. Father says that it’s the best house and that I better get in it.”

Harry frowned slightly. Draco’s father sounded a bit like Vernon. Maybe he just didn’t know enough about the man.

“Of course then Mother says that she and Father’ll be happy with any house I’m in, but I think I personally might leave if I got into Hufflepuff. It’s the house for everyone who doesn’t fit into any other house from what I’ve heard.”

Harry suspected Draco liked to hear himself talk. He decided to break in. “The Head of Hufflepuff, Professor Sprout is showing me around Diagon Alley. She told me about the houses. Hufflepuff isn’t for the leftovers. It’s for the people who are willing to work hard to get what they want honestly. Almost the opposite of Slytherin in some ways.” 

Draco nodded slowly. “I can see that. You said Sprout was showing you around. Are you a muggleborn?”

Harry shook his head. “Halfblood. My mum was a muggleborn. But my parents died about a year after I was born and I was sent to live with my muggle relatives,” he replied. 

“So did you know anything about the magical world? If you’re with your relatives, they probably know about us,” Draco asked.

Harry shook his head again. “I just learned about the magical world yesterday. I don’t know anything about customs, traditions, or etiquette. Do you know any books or people that can help with that?” Harry asked. “I got some from Flourish and Blotts, but I don’t know if the ones I got are any good or not.”

“May I see them?” Draco asked. Harry nodded and pulled out his trunk, which Professor Sprout had kindly shrunk for him. He dug through it and pulled out the books he had on the wizarding world. 

“I also got _Hogwarts, A History _. The clerk said that it was the main book on information about Hogwarts.”__

__Draco nodded, agreeing. “It has all the relevant information. These books look good. I can help fill in any holes at school since we’ll both be there.” He handed the books back to Harry._ _

__Harry quickly agreed and put the books back in his trunk._ _

__“Alright dearie, that’s you done,” Madam Malkin said to Draco, who stepped down from his stool._ _

__“Mother is looking at the wands in Ollivander’s, so I had better go catch up with her. I’ll see you on the train?”_ _

__Harry quickly agreed. Madam Malkin began taking his measurements, and Harry made sure to ask for some casual clothes as well. About half an hour later, he had all of his clothes, and walked out in a set of the casual robes._ _

__Professor Sprout met him just outside with a small cage. Inside was the most beautiful owl he had ever seen. He immediately reached for the cage, cooing gently at the bird to keep her calm. Professor Sprout smiled gently as she handed the owl over. “I also got her a good supply of treats that should last her until you get to Hogwarts,” she said. “She’s a snowy owl, and very well trained.”_ _

__“She’s beautiful,” Harry breathed. “She’ll need the perfect name. I’ll find it after we’re done shopping.”_ _

__Professor Sprout took one last look at the list and nodded. “We just have to get your wand now. Ollivander’s is just this way.” She began to walk towards the store, letting Harry talk quietly to his owl.  
When they entered the dilapidated looking shop, Harry saw dusty shelves filled with dusty boxes. He gazed around, wondering what he was supposed to be doing, when he heard a voice behind him. _ _

__“Mr. Potter. I had wondered when I would be seeing you in my shop. I remember when your parents were in here. You have your mother’s eyes, you know. She had a willow wand, ten and a quarter inches, swishy. Good for charms, it was. Your father, on the other hand, preferred a mahogany wand, eleven inches and pliable. Of course, I say preferred, the wand chooses the wizard. And every witch and wizard who has come into my shop has left with a wand. Let’s see what we can find for you. Hold out your wand arm, if you would.”_ _

__Harry obediently held out his right arm, wondering what the old man needed his arm for. His question was quickly answered as a tape measure sprang to life from the desk and began to measure everything it could reach, including between his nostrils and the width of his foot. Ollivander returned with a few boxes and snapped his fingers at the tape measure, making it stop measuring and fly back to the desk. Harry was handed a wand, only to have it almost instantly snatched back. Ollivander began muttering under his breath, handing Harry wand after wand, some, Harry waved before they were taken away, others, Harry had barely touched before they were snatched back. Instead of looking discouraged, Ollivander seemed to look more excited with each wand that was rejected._ _

__Finally, Ollivander paused. “I wonder….” He said, headed towards the back of the shop, quickly disappearing among the stacks. He came back shortly with a box that was covered in dust. “Try this one Mr. Potter. Eleven inches, Holly with a phoenix feather core.”_ _

__Harry took the wand and immediately felt it react with—something in him. He waved it and green and gold sparks flew from the end. He smiled. It had taken a long time, but he had a wand._ _

__“Interesting, very interesting,” Ollivander was muttering beside him._ _

__“Sir? What’s interesting?” Harry asked._ _

__“The phoenix whose feather resides in that wand only gave two feathers. It is interesting that this wand is the brother of the one who gave you that scar,” he said, pointedly looking at Harry’s forehead. Harry wanted to hide, but knew that it would only make him look weak in front of a virtual stranger, so instead he nodded, getting out his money pouch._ _

__“How much for the wand and a holder for it? I’ve seen people walking around with their wands in holders on their arms.”_ _

__“Nine galleons for the wand and holster. I’ll go fetch you one.” Ollivander returned quickly with a holster and showed Harry how to put it on, how the wand fit in it, and how to quickly get it out. Harry left quickly after that and found Professor Sprout standing right outside._ _

__“Come. Let’s find you a place to stay until school starts,” she said. “You’re not going back to those relatives of yours, not if I can help it.”_ _

__After getting a room for the month in the Leaky Cauldron, Harry quickly pulled out the first of his wizarding books, reading through it and finding the perfect name for his owl. “Hedwig. What do you think, girl?” The owl hooted softly in reply, and he smiled, then yawned, just then realizing how tired he was. He put his book away and opened the window for Hedwig in case she wanted to hunt, then changed into a set of sleep clothes and fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: the idea behind the story shows up and we meet our favorite red head, bookworm, and toad owner.  
> Please leave a comment below!


	4. Nameless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Train time! Harry meets many people and has a slight existential crisis. But that's ok cause now he's started playing a prank on everyone. Too bad it won't last much longer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please read and review!

The next month was filled with reading his books and exploring the alley. Harry became relatively good friends with Tom, who once he was past the whole _Harry Potter _thing was actually pretty decent. Harry read through all of his books at least once, and his books about the wizarding world in general he read several times. He didn’t want to stand out more than he already did.__

__On September first, Harry grabbed his trunk and lugged it downstairs. He asked Tom to shrink it for him so he would be able to carry it easier and got directions for how to get onto Platform 9 ¾. He then went outside, found a relatively deserted area, and held out his wand. According to Tom, there was a bus that helped any wizards who needed transportation, so he decided to try it out. A triple decker bus _slammed _into the pavement next to him.___ _

____“’Ello, I’m Stan Shurnpike. Welcome to the Knight Bus, transport for the standard wizard. Where ya headed?”_ _ _ _

____Harry got on the bus and asked for King’s Cross station. He was barely seated before the bus suddenly _zoomed _off the curb. The seats slid around, and if Harry wasn’t almost carsick, he’d think it was the most brilliant thing in the world. Actually, he still did think it was the most brilliant thing he’d experienced, except the goblin carts.___ _ _ _

______A few moments later, the Knight Bus _slammed _back onto a curb, this time at King’s Cross. He found the right pillar, took a glance around to make sure no one was watching, and ran through it, not quite trusting that it would let him through. It did, and he found himself on the platform. He stood there for a moment, allowing himself a full minute of gaping before getting his expression mostly under control, although he couldn’t help the huge grin as he continued to look around. He quickly found an empty compartment on the train and pulled out one of his books after tapping his wand to his trunk to unshrink it like Tom had said to do. He had bought a couple more books to supplement his school books, noticing that the potions book just gave instructions but didn’t give detailed instructions like how to cut ingredients if the directions called for a specific cut, and that a few other of the books were also infuriatingly vague.___ _ _ _ _ _

________A few moments later, a red headed family came bursting through the barrier, with three boys, who he assumed was their mother, and a girl. The youngest boy looked to be about Harry’s age, and he hoped they could be friends. Harry had never had friends and more than one friend would be amazing. Two of the boys were almost exactly identical. Harry couldn’t tell them apart, but he knew that even identical twins had some distinction between each other. The oldest boy looked very uptight and like he was a teachers’ pet._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________In a stroke of luck, the boy his age came to his compartment. “Can I sit with you? I’m Ron Weasley, by the way.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry thought for a moment, then decided to play a slight joke on Ron. “Harry Carmichael. Is this your first year?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yeah! What House are you hoping for? I’m hoping for Gryffindor, personally, all my family have been there. I’ve heard that all Slytherins are slimy snakes, but so are my twin brothers, Fred and George, and they’re in Gryffindor. Plus they’re not too bad, except when they put spiders in my bed,” Ron rambled._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I don’t know what House I’ll be in. I wouldn’t mind any of them really. They all sound fascinating. I met one boy who hopes he’s in Slytherin, and you hope you’ll be in Gryffindor. I honestly don’t mind where I go.”  
Speak of the devil, Draco came to the compartment just then. “Hello, Harry,” he said. “I see you found your way to the train well enough.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yes, thanks,” Harry replied politely. “Ron, this is Draco, the friend I told you about who wants to be in Slytherin. Draco, this is Ron, my other friend. I hope you’ll be friends too, it’d be brilliant to have friends in other houses no matter where I end up.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Draco looked a little put out, but in the end he seemed to decide that it was worth whatever trouble he seemed to think it was. Ron also agreed. Harry was thrilled._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“You never told me your last name, by the way,” Draco said._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry smiled inwardly. Let the chaos begin. “I’m Harry Jenkins.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I thought you told me your last name was Carmichael?” Ron said._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Did I? Huh. Strange. Sorry about that,” Harry said._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Draco frowned. “So which is your real last name?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry laughed. “Neither. I hate my real last name so I’m introducing myself to everyone new I meet with a different name.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“What’s so horrible about your last name?” Ron asked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Oh nothing really, I just hate everything that comes with it when I say my last name.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“What comes with your last name?” Draco asked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Crowds, too much hugging, a lot of gratitude that I don’t even know why I’m getting it. It’s so annoying how fast I get crowded and thanked just cause of something I don’t even remember,” Harry answered, frustrated. “Either way, I’m sure you’ll find out my last name at the Sorting.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The other two nodded, agreeing that getting mobbed all the time would be annoying._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Suddenly there was a knock on the door. A blond boy poked his head in, and asked, “Have any of you seen a toad? Trevor ran away again.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Trevor, huh?” Harry said. “I haven’t seen a toad, but maybe an older year will know a spell to get him back, or an easy way to find him or something.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The blond boy looked very relieved. “Thanks. I have another girl looking, so let’s go find her too. I’m Neville by the way.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Nice to meet you, Neville. I’m Harry, this is Ron, and that’s Draco. Let’s go find your friend and then we’ll go find an older student.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The boys quickly headed in the direction Neville had last seen his friend and found her rather quickly. The introductions began again and the girl introduced herself as Hermione. They soon located an older student, who, with Neville’s permission, summoned Trevor with a spell that Harry thought was “ackio” or something like that. It sounded like a very useful spell and he was determined to learn it as soon as he could. The group of five retreated back to Harry’s compartment and Hermione started a discussion on the Houses._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“What Houses do you all hope you’re in? I hope I’m in Gryffindor, although Ravenclaw would be just as good I think. I love to read, but I’ve heard the Headmaster was in Gryffindor. What about you guys?”  
“Gryffindor would be great,” Ron said. “My family has all been in it so I hope I’ll be there too. But I don’t personally think it really matters. Even Draco here isn’t so bad, even though he’ll probably end up in Slytherin, so the snakes can’t be that slimy.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Ha ha. Very funny, Ron,” Draco said. “I think I’ll be in Slytherin. That’s where my family has all gone. I suspect Harry will end up in Slytherin too, since he’s so sneaky and all.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Thanks, Draco! Slytherin sounds great.” At this point Harry was just trying to imitate all of his… friends? Did he have friends now? He had no idea how normal eleven year olds acted, since he was pretty sure none of them were ever thrown in a cupboard for burning one piece of bacon, and beaten with a belt, but never leaving scars of course, for any other perceived misdemeanor. He wasn’t counting Dudley, because none of the other students in the school he had gone to were nearly as fat as Dudley, nor as mean. He quickly dragged his thoughts back to the conversation as Neville answered._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I hope I’m in Gryffindor, cause it would make my Gran proud, but I don’t even know if I have enough magic to go to Hogwarts. The only time I did show magic at all was when I was pushed out of a window and I bounced.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry froze inside. _Pushed? _That sounded almost worse than the Dursleys. “Well, if you got your letter, then you must have enough magic, right? I mean, I didn’t even know I had magic until I got my letter, but you grew up in a magic household, so you know all about it. And you did do magic. You bounced. I’d say that’s enough magic to get into school, especially since you got your letter,” Harry said. He decided that he would be the best friend he could be for Neville, because they both needed friends.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Draco suddenly straightened. “I can’t believe I forgot! You guys have to come meet my friends. They’re just this way.” With that, the group exited the compartment and knocked on another one just a few doors down. When the door opened, there were three first years inside. “Pansy, Blaise, Theo, these are Harry, Neville, Hermione, and Ron. Guys, these are Pansy, Blaise, and Theo.” Pansy was a pretty enough girl, even though she had a piggish nose. Blaise was a dark skinned boy, and Theo was a lighter skinned boy with dark hair, though not as dark as Harry’s._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________After a few seconds of studying each other, Harry stepped forward with a slight glint in his eye and his hand out. “Hello, I’m Harry Jorgeson. Pleasure to meet you.” He heard Ron and Draco stifle laughter behind him and could tell Hermione and Neville were confused. He figured they’d catch on soon enough._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Pansy Parkinson,” Pansy greeted first, taking his hand and shaking it._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Blaise Zabini.” Blaise had a smooth voice, even though he was only eleven, and Harry suspected that it would sound like honey when he had grown into himself and gotten past puberty._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Theo Nott.” Theo was quiet, and he seemed to prefer that the others take the lead. Harry personally agreed with him most of the time, but when it came to introducing himself with a new last name he couldn’t help himself._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Hermione looked outside and said, “We’re almost there. We ought to get our robes on, those of us who haven’t. I should have thought of wearing mine right away like you guys have,” she added to Draco and his friends._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Pansy smiled. “I’ll make you a deal Hermione. No matter what House you get in, let’s be friends, if just to help counteract the number of boys in this group who are already getting chummy, and I’ll help you with your hair. I know just the potion to help it, and my mum packed a vial for me just in case.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Hermione grinned. “That would be wonderful! I had better go find a bathroom to change in. No sense asking the boys to leave since there’s so many of them and only one of me.” She disappeared out the compartment door and a few minutes later returned._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________An announcement came over the train’s speakers. “Attention all students. We will be arriving in Hogsmeade station in five minutes. Please leave your trunks and bags on the train. They will be taken care of for you.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: The Sorting Ceremony!


	5. Name Calling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And everybody gets Sorted! Is everyone in the same Houses? Or do we suddenly have Draco in Hufflepuff? RAFO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoy this chapter. Please read and comment below.

As Harry and his friends got off the train, they heard a booming voice. “Firs’ years! Firs’ years over ‘ere!” They followed the voice and discovered a large man with a large beard standing next to a trail that led up a hill.

“Come on then, follow me now. Ye’ll get yer first view of ‘Ogwarts soon enough ‘ere. This way now.”

The first years all followed the large man, and at the top of the hill everyone took in a collective gasp. 

“Brilliant!”

“It’s beautiful!”

“Wow!” 

Hogwarts was beautiful. It was all lit up with torches and had so many towers. It was like one of those old Scottish castles, which now that Harry thought about it, it was an old Scottish castle. He could tell his other friends were equally impressed. The first years continued to follow the man down towards the lake, where a whole bunch of boats were waiting. 

“No more’n four to a boat now! Everybody in a boat? Let’s go!”

The boats took off like, well, magic, and Harry was glad he didn’t get seasick, even though the boats didn’t really rock at all. About halfway across the lake, there was a flicker of movement just under the top of the water. The next moment, a snake like thing came out of the water and went back down with barely a splash. 

“What was that?” Neville asked.

“That was the squid, I think. My brother’s made it seem scarier than it seems to be,” Ron answered. 

“A squid? There’s a squid here?” Neville asked, looking terrified.

“Yeah, Father told me a little bit about it. He said it’s basically harmless and hasn’t attacked anyone in years,” Draco added.

“I’m naming it Bob.” Harry’s voice came suddenly, surprising the others. 

“Bob?” Draco asked incredulously. “Why would you name it Bob?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. He just seems like a Bob. Plus I kind of want to fight him, but I can’t swim so I’m giving him a name instead.”

“You want to _what?! _” Neville squeaked. “Why would you want to fight Bob?”__

__“I don’t know. I just want to fight him. Seems like it would be entertaining. Maybe later.”_ _

__“Harry, you can’t fight the squid,” Ron said. “That is a bad idea.”_ _

__“Well obviously I can’t fight Bob. I can’t swim.”_ _

__By that time, they had reached shore and Hermione, Pansy, Theo and Blaise all looked very confused._ _

__“Why are we talking about fighting the squid?” Pansy asked._ _

__“His name is Bob,” Draco interjected. “But Harry can’t swim so there will be no fighting of the squid today.”_ _

__Harry sighed, looking disappointed. “I’ll fight him someday. Oh look, I think we’re wherever it is we were going.”_ _

__The large man confirmed that by speaking to a tall woman with a stern look on her face and a tight bun. “The firs’ years, Professor.”_ _

__“Thank you, Hagrid.” She turned to the children. “I am Professor McGonagall. Please follow me.” She led the way into a small room next to the large double doors. “Stay here for a moment, I will return shortly.”_ _

__The children talked among themselves for a few minutes, looking around. Suddenly, there was a slight chill in the air and a lot of translucent flying people flew up through the floor, through the walls, and even a few down through the ceiling. Harry jumped a little, not used to people appearing out of nowhere still, until he remembered the ghosts he had read about in Hogwarts, a History. A fat ghost that looked a little like Friar Tuck in that one Robin Hoover or whatever movie his cousin had watched that one time he was cleaning the living room popped up near them._ _

__“You’re all first years, then? I hope to see you in Hufflepuff House!” His voice was far too cheerful for Harry to feel comfortable around him, and he decided he didn’t want to be in Hufflepuff if he had to see this ghost very often. Draco seemed to share his sentiment._ _

__Professor McGonagall entered just then and shooed all the ghosts away. “Follow me now. Let’s get you all sorted.” She led the way into the room where a whole bunch of other students were sitting. The ceiling looked like the night sky, he remembered, so he looked up and saw dark clouds._ _

__“It’s enchanted to look like the sky outside,” Hermione said._ _

__“Hogwarts, a History?” Harry asked. “I read it too. It was fascinating.”_ _

__Hermione looked very excited and Harry almost regretted speaking up. He quickly turned her attention to the old hat sitting on the stool at the front of the hall. The hat suddenly opened a rip above its rim and began to sing._ _

___"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me._ _ _

___You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all._ _ _

___There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be._ _ _

___You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;_ _ _

___You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;_ _ _

___Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;_ _ _

___Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends._ _ _

___So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!" ____ _

____Harry didn’t know how to feel about a Thinking Cap. It seemed weird. But he figured there wasn’t much he could do about it so he shrugged mentally.  
“When I call your name, come sit on the stool,” Professor McGonagall said. “Abbott, Hannah!”_ _ _ _

____A blonde girl hesitantly walked up to the stool, clearly hating that she was first. The Hat was silent for a few moments, then yelled out, “HUFFLEPUFF!”_ _ _ _

____“Bones, Susan!”_ _ _ _

____“HUFFLEPUFF!”_ _ _ _

____“Boot, Terry!”_ _ _ _

____“RAVENCLAW!”_ _ _ _

____“Brocklehurst, Mandy!”_ _ _ _

____“RAVENCLAW!”_ _ _ _

____“Brown, Lavender!”_ _ _ _

____“GRYFFINDOR!”_ _ _ _

____Harry noticed some people took longer to sort, while others were barely under for a moment._ _ _ _

____“Bulstrode, Millicent!”_ _ _ _

____“SLYTHERIN!”_ _ _ _

____“Corner, Michael!”_ _ _ _

____“RAVENCLAW!”_ _ _ _

____“Crabbe, Vincent!”_ _ _ _

____“SLYTHERIN!”_ _ _ _

____“Davis, Tracey!”_ _ _ _

____“SLYTHERIN!”_ _ _ _

____“Dunbar, Fay!”_ _ _ _

____“GRYFFINDOR!”_ _ _ _

____“Finch-Fletchley, Justin!”_ _ _ _

____“HUFFLEPUFF!”_ _ _ _

____“Finnegan, Seamus!”_ _ _ _

____“GRYFFINDOR!”_ _ _ _

____“Goldstein, Anthony!”_ _ _ _

____“RAVENCLAW!”_ _ _ _

____“Goyle, Gregory!”_ _ _ _

____“SLYTHERIN!”_ _ _ _

____“Granger, Hermione!”_ _ _ _

____“RAVENCLAW!”_ _ _ _

____Harry cheered for his friend, knowing that the bookish girl would love it there._ _ _ _

____“Greengrass, Daphne!”_ _ _ _

____“SLYTHERIN!”_ _ _ _

____“Hopkins, Wayne!”_ _ _ _

____“HUFFLEPUFF!”_ _ _ _

____“Jones, Megan!”_ _ _ _

____“HUFFLEPUFF!”_ _ _ _

____“Li, Sue!”_ _ _ _

____“RAVENCLAW!”_ _ _ _

____“Longbottom, Neville!”_ _ _ _

____“HUFFLEPUFF!”  
Harry cheered extra loudly for Neville, knowing that Professor Sprout would be good for his shy friend._ _ _ _

____“MacDougal, Morag!”_ _ _ _

____“RAVENCLAW!”_ _ _ _

____“Macmillan, Ernest!”_ _ _ _

____“HUFFLEPUFF!”_ _ _ _

____“Malfoy, Draco!”_ _ _ _

____“SLYTHERIN!”_ _ _ _

____Harry laughed as he cheered. The Hat had barely touched Draco’s head._ _ _ _

____Nott, Theodore!”_ _ _ _

____“SLYTHERIN!”_ _ _ _

____Harry again cheered, glad his other shy friend was with someone he already knew well._ _ _ _

____“Parkinson, Pansy!”_ _ _ _

____“SLYTHERIN!”_ _ _ _

____Harry cheered some more. His throat was a little sore. Why were all his friends right next to each other in order?_ _ _ _

____“Patil, Padma!”_ _ _ _

____“RAVENCLAW!”_ _ _ _

____“Patil, Parvati!”_ _ _ _

____“GRYFFINDOR!”_ _ _ _

____Huh. They must be twins. Cool._ _ _ _

____“Potter, Harry!”_ _ _ _

____The room fell silent. Then the whispers started._ _ _ _

____“Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?”_ _ _ _

____“What’s he look like?”_ _ _ _

____“I hope he’s in our House!”_ _ _ _

____Harry stepped forward, grimacing at all the attention he was getting._ _ _ _

____He heard Ron and Blaise stifle a gasp, and figured Hermione, Pansy, and Neville had as well. Draco was far too well trained to let something like a little surprise in a name make him lose composure, though.  
He sat on the stool and Professor McGonagall set the hat on his head. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the Hat spoke to him. _ _ _ _

____“Hello Harry Potter. I have awaited your head for quite a few years.”_ _ _ _

____“Actually it’s Harry Parkington, and what?”_ _ _ _

____The Hat was silent for a moment. “What?” It finally asked._ _ _ _

____“I said my name was Harry Underdog, and what do you mean you’ve been waiting for my head for a while? Do you want to kill me and keep my head for yourself?”_ _ _ _

____The Hat was silent for a longer moment this time, and finally said, “No, I don’t want to kill you. I suppose I did word that badly. Obviously such a precise person belongs in SLYTHERIN!”_ _ _ _

____The last part was yelled out loud for all to hear, and most of the hall was silent, except Harry’s friends and the Slytherin table._ _ _ _

____Draco leaned over and whispered, “Harry Jenkins, huh? Or was it Jorgeson?”_ _ _ _

____Harry giggled a little bit and whispered back, “I told the Hat it was Parkington, and then when he asked what I said I said it was Underdog.”_ _ _ _

____Draco shook his head in silent amusement._ _ _ _

____The Sorting continued._ _ _ _

____“Thomas, Dean!”_ _ _ _

____“GRYFFINDOR!”_ _ _ _

____“Turpin, Lisa!”_ _ _ _

____“RAVENCLAW!”_ _ _ _

____“Weasley, Ron!”_ _ _ _

____“GRYFFINDOR!”_ _ _ _

____“Zabini, Blaise!”_ _ _ _

____“SLYTHERIN!”_ _ _ _

____Harry cheered for his friends as they sat down. Then he turned his attention to the front of the room. The Headmaster, who was in a remarkably more rich looking chair than the rest of the staff, stood to make an announcement._ _ _ _

____“Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! And welcome, to our new students. Before we begin our feast this evening, I’d like to say a few words. I’ll make sure to keep it short, since I know all of you are very hungry! Here are my words: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you! Have a wonderful feast.”_ _ _ _

____With that, he waved his hands, and a literal feast was spread out in front of them. Harry had never seen so much food in his life, let alone been able to eat even what was right in front of him up until about a month  
ago. His mouth dropped open for a single second, then he closed it and began serving himself, passing food to the people who asked politely, and pretending he had gone momentarily deaf with the people who didn’t._ _ _ _

____“So, Harry Potter in Slytherin, eh?” A voice spoke from right behind him. Harry whipped around._ _ _ _

____“Harry Poppinpaddleopsocopolis, actually,” Harry said, remembering the name from when Dudley watched some show about a bald kid with arrows on his face._ _ _ _

____The older boy frowned, then noticed Draco holding in his laughter._ _ _ _

____“Harry Poddlesfield, you say? It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Marcus Flint.”_ _ _ _

____“Pleasure to meet you, Flint,” Harry replied. Marcus nodded and moved on, seemingly satisfied._ _ _ _

____Harry waited until Flint had walked farther away, then burst into childish giggles. He hadn’t laughed this much, well, ever. “Did you see his face when I said my name wasn’t Potter! But then he ran with it! This is the best day of my life!”_ _ _ _

____Draco snickered as well, but before he could answer, they heard a tinking sound, as if someone had tapped their silverware on their goblet.  
Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and everyone quieted._ _ _ _

____“I have a few more announcements to make. The first is that all students should be reminded that the Forbidden Forest is not just a misnomer. It is indeed, forbidden to all students. Next, Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that you are not allowed to cast spells in the hallways. Finally, the third floor corridor it forbidden to all students. Thank you. You are dismissed to your Common Rooms.” He waved his hands again, and the food disappeared from the tables._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll have you know this chapter is by far the longest so far. This might continue, it might not. It probably won't. There just wasn't a good stopping point for everything I needed to fit into this chapter.
> 
> I hope you recognize the easter eggs I threw in there. If you did, let me know in the comments! Either way, comment whether you liked it or not!
> 
> Next chapter: We meet Snape, and have a few classes.


	6. That's Not My Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seeing the dorm and Potions class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this chapter! Please read and review!

Marcus Flint walked by again, speaking more loudly than he had to Harry. “Alight, firsties, follow me, we don’t want you getting lost and wandering down in the dungeons forever on your first night here.” A couple of the older students snorted, clearly knowing something Harry’s year didn’t.

All the new Slytherins followed the older boy out of the Great Hall, down a large number of moving stairs, and into the dungeons. They stopped in front of a seemingly blank wall, but, looking closer, Harry saw a few carvings of snakes in the wall. They seemed to be looking right at him. Flint stepped forward.

“I’m going to say the password. Don’t forget it, or at least have someone with you who won’t forget. The password is alihotsy.”

Harry watched as the snakes slithered inwards quickly, then seemed to pull on a crack that had appeared. The door opened as they pulled. It was so fast, if he hadn’t been watching the snakes he would have missed the movement. The doors opened to reveal a green and silver themed room with a fireplace and couches and chairs scattered around tastefully. Not everything was green and silver thankfully, that would just make it boring. There was some black, and the walls seemed to be painted a deep blue.

Flint spoke up. “Welcome to the Slytherin common room. This is your home for the next seven years. The dorms are this way.” He gestured as he said it. “Girls on the right, boys on the left. Your trunks will already be there.”

Harry noticed a slightly deeper shadow in one corner and assumed the Head of House, Professor Snape if he remembered correctly from Professor Sprout, was standing in it. He was proven correct a moment later when the shadow moved and a tall man in all black stepped out. His hair looked a little greasy, but Harry could tell that it wasn’t really. He presumed there was something about the potions that made his hair more difficult to keep clean. 

“My name is Professor Snape. I am your Head of House. Slytherin House will be your home for the next seven years, as Mr. Flint has said. If you need to see me for any reason, my office is just through that door over there. My office hours are posted on the bulletin board.” His voice was silky smooth and it sounded like he was always struggling not to sound sarcastic. Harry suspected that any student who found his ire would be on the receiving end of quite the verbal beat down. The professor continued. “If I am not available, one of the prefects can help you. Now, off to bed with you. Classes start in the morning. I’ll have your schedules ready for you at breakfast, so be sure to arrive on time.”

With that, Professor Snape swished out of the common room. The first years stood for a moment longer, then headed to find their rooms. As they walked into their room, they discovered that all the first year boys were in the same room. It was shaped like a large hexagon, with a bed on each side. Harry wondered if it was the castle magic making sure the room was the right size or if there were always six boys in a class. He decided not to question it farther and found his trunk quickly in front of the bed between Draco’s and Theo’s. He also noticed more snakes decorating the walls and suspected that they could move just as the door snakes could. He wondered if they went and got Professor Snape or a prefect if the students were in trouble or something. He shrugged mentally and went to grab sleeping clothes from his trunk. After changing and washing up in the bathroom, he went to bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, Harry woke to, surprisingly, Theo jumping on his bed. “Get up! If you want time in the bathroom before we have to go to breakfast we should get there before Draco.” Harry giggled at the accuracy and then went and jumped on Blaise’s bed to wake him up with the same message. They left Crabbe and Goyle for now, not knowing them well enough. The three boys quickly got ready for the day and only then did they wake Draco. They threw pillows at Crabbe and Goyle before they did, supposing that even the so far silent boys should get a headstart on Draco. When Draco was finally done they all headed out to the common room to find Pansy and three other girls. Harry remembered that their names were Daphne Greengrass, Millicent Bulstrode, and Tracey Davis. 

“Finally! What took you so long?” Pansy asked. “We’ve been waiting for almost thirty minutes!”

Harry snickered. “Draco.”

Pansy snorted. “Makes sense. Now come on. I want to see Hermione before breakfast. I promised to give her the potion since I didn’t have it on me last night.”

The boys agreed and they all trooped back up to the Great Hall, almost getting lost a few times, but Harry noticed there were snakes who led them, although he suspected most of the other first years didn’t notice since they were talking among themselves, and the snakes never moved. There was just a snake at every turn pointed toward the Common Room.

“How do you keep track of all these turns? Are you sure we aren’t lost? Maybe we should have waited for a prefect.” It was Blaise’s voice, and Harry turned.

“There’s snakes at every turn pointed towards the Common Room. I barely noticed them on our way down here, but they’re all on the way to the Great Hall.”

“Huh. Cool,” seemed to be the consensus from the other children, and they soon reached the Great Hall. Pansy immediately headed over to Ravenclaw table, where Hermione was already sitting. Harry also noticed Neville at the Hufflepuff table, but none of the Gryffindor first years had arrived yet. Harry pulled Draco over to greet Neville before they sat down.

“Good morning, Neville,” Harry said. “Did you sleep well?”

“Oh! Good morning, Harry, Draco. The Hufflepuff dorms are so comfortable! I love them! What about your dorms?”

“They’re great!” Draco gushed. Harry looked over to the Slytherin table and saw more students were there, so he tugged on Draco’s sleeve.

“Sorry Nev, we have to go sit down. Professor Snape is going to be handing out our schedules soon.”

“Ok. I’ll see you guys later.”

After they got their schedules and ate breakfast, they headed back down to the dungeons for Potions with the Gryffindors. Harry was excited for this class. He was excited for most of the classes, but Potions and Herbology were the ones he was most excited for. Unfortunately he wouldn’t have Herbology until Friday. When they got there, Harry saw Ron and pulled Draco over to greet him. They chatted for a few minutes until the doors opened and Draco and Harry sat together. A few moments later Professor Snape stalked into the room. 

“You will put your wands away. There is no use for them here. You are here to learn the exact science and delicate art of potion making. I can teach you to bottle fame and stop death. You can learn to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses, if, as I doubt, you are not as big of dunderheads as I suspect.” His voice was soft and silky, making everyone lean forward in their seats to ensure that they didn’t miss a single word. “Mr. Thomas!” he suddenly snapped. “What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” 

The boy froze for a moment, then said slowly, “A potion to make you sleep?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

“T-telling you,” Thomas said hesitantly.

“Very well. You are correct, after a fashion. The ingredients I listed produce a powerful sleeping potion called Draught of the Living dead. Mr. Weasley! Where would you look to find a bezoar?”

“Err, in your cabinets?”

“Five points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Mr. Weasley. You would locate a bezoar in the stomach of a goat. Mr. Potter.” His voice was a slow drawl now. Harry was tempted to correct the professor on his last name but decided not to, deciding that Professor Snape was too frightening to play a joke on. “What is the difference between monkswood and wolfsbane?” 

“They’re the same plant, professor. It is also called aconite.”

“Very good. Well?” His voice turned sharp. “Why are you not writing all of this down?”

Professor Snape continued to lecture, informing them that they would be brewing a potion during the next class. “Read the first three chapters in your book and give me a foot of parchment on the properties of   
porcupine quills,” he directed, then dismissed the class.

Harry and Draco had free time until lunch, so they started on the homework.

“I think I will like potions. It’s an interesting subject and Professor Snape doesn’t play favorites. Much,” Harry said. Draco agreed.

After lunch they had free time again until History of Magic, which turned out to be taught by a ghost. After class Draco turned to Harry.

“You’d think having a ghost teach would make it more interesting. Instead, we all get an extra nap! Who keeps a ghost on as a teacher anyway?”

Harry shrugged and the little group headed to supper, and then down to the Common Room to finish the potions assignment. At about ten o’clock, the first years packed up their supplies and headed to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of the speech in potions is paraphrased from the movie. It was easier to get ahold of than the book.  
> Please leave a comment below if you liked, or didn't like, this chapter. Thanks for reading!
> 
> Next chapter: the rest of the week and Herbology.


	7. By Any Other Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry has his Herbology class and learns a little more about Sirius Black. We also meet someone new, though briefly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's late but the next chapter is here just after midnight! Please read and review!

The next week was full of classes that seemed to both fly by and crawl at a snail’s pace. Charms was interesting, because after Professor Flitwick called his name for role, he fell off his stack of books. Harry had automatically “corrected” him on his last name under his breath and Draco almost suffocated trying to hold in the laughter. He had corrected most of the professors under his breath, and each time the friends around him stifled giggles. Potions continued to be his favorite, with Charms a close second. 

Ron’s older brothers, Fred and George, had taken his last name joke and run with it so far the original couldn’t be seen with a telescope. They could be heard calling for “Harry Penopscott” and “Harry Loliscotulous” in between classes.

Finally the day he had been waiting for arrived. Friday was the day he would have Herbology. After the double Potions class, he and the other Slytherins headed down to the greenhouses with the Ravenclaws. Professor Sprout greeted them cheerily.

The lesson was interesting enough, but Harry hoped they would be able to be more hands on soon. As the class was released, Harry heard a cheerful voice from behind.

“Mr. Potter!” It was Professor Sprout.

“Porcupine,” he muttered. Apparently it was louder than he intended because as he turned, the professor looked almost angry. “Sorry, Professor. It’s a running joke aimed at my last name,” he hurriedly explained.  
“Every time someone says my last name, we all come up with a random word to replace it and laugh about it while trying not to get caught because it sounds weird.” Her face cleared and she chuckled. 

“I was wondering about the rumors of you saying random words every time you hear your name. It is humorous now that I know the full story behind it. That isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about, though. You asked me to look into Sirius Black’s trial. Here’s the letter I just received back today.”

She handed him a letter that only had a single sentence on it besides the greetings.

_There is no information about a trial for any Sirius Black on file. ___

__Harry stood for a moment, taking in the information. “He wasn’t given a trial then. Is there anyone we can talk to to see about rectifying that?”_ _

__Professor Sprout thought for a moment. “Madam Amelia Bones,” she said. “She would be the one to go to. I think you should write the letter, though of course I’ll help you if you would like. You’re his godson, and  
you are the heir of the Potter line, which, although not very powerful, is old.”_ _

__“Isn’t one of her relatives in your House? I recognize the last name. Susan Bones, right?” Harry asked._ _

__“You have a good memory. Susan is Madam Bones’ niece.”_ _

__“I think I will write the letter myself, but thank you for the offer. It will seem more sincere if an eleven year old uses the language he is comfortable with than if he uses language that only an accomplished adult would use. I might also ask Miss Bones if she will write to her aunt as well. She’s pretty good friends with Neville.”_ _

__Professor Sprout agreed, then sent Harry off to lunch. As he went, Harry was formulating the letter in his mind._ _

__Harry quickly wrote the letter at lunch, making sure to sign it with Potter, then headed over to Hufflepuff table, with Draco trailing behind._ _

__“Hey, Neville,” Harry greeted. “How have classes been?”_ _

__“Hey, Harry. They’ve been ok. I can’t seem to get any of the charms right though. I’m afraid I might be a squib after all.”_ _

__Before Harry had even opened his mouth, at least three people had spoken up in Neville’s defense._ _

__“You are not a squib! You wouldn’t be here if you were!” and other similar comments were given. Harry smiled, glad his friend had found such a good place with people who believed in him. Luckily, one of the girls who had spoken up was Susan Bones. Harry had remembered her from the Sorting._ _

__“Bones, right?” he said. “Your aunt is Madam Amelia Bones? I had a question for her, but I’m worried that she won’t look at it if it comes from a random eleven year old, even if that eleven year old is Harry Tentaculous.” He said the last name with a huge grin as all the first years giggled. “Would you be willing to write to her too and ask if she’ll just take a look at it?”_ _

__“Sure, Yeti. I’m writing her a letter now to send after Charms. I’ll just ask her to read your letter in it,” she replied. The first years all giggled again at the last name. A few of the older years close by snorted as well._ _

__“Great! Thanks Bones. I owe you a favor of equal value.”_ _

__Susan smirked. “I’ll take an autograph,” she said. “Not because you’re famous, but because the last names are amazing and I want to remember whatever one you think up now forever.”_ _

__Harry laughed outright and agreed. She handed him a piece of paper and a quill and Harry thought for a moment. He grinned suddenly and bent over the paper. A moment later he handed her the paper and the quill back and she laughed as she read what he had written._ _

___Harry Noodlebrains ____ _

____“Noodlebrains?” Neville asked. “Why that name?”_ _ _ _

____“Dudley used to watch a show and that was one of the nicknames in it. I just remembered it.”_ _ _ _

____The first years laughed and split for their classes, or in the case of the Slytherins, free time, which they had decided to use to nap since they had Astronomy that night._ _ _ _

____Astronomy was interesting, but it happened so late. Luckily it was on Fridays so they would be able to sleep in on Saturdays. Harry was too tired to think about anything and fell asleep right away after class,  
thankfully with no dreams. _ _ _ _

____The next day, he woke up at around noon, feeling refreshed. Flint had explained to the first years that Snape usually insisted that everyone be at all meals, but since it was Saturday and they had had Astronomy the  
night before, they were allowed to sleep in. They did, however, have to appear at lunch. Harry saw he was the only one awake and quickly went to bounce on Theo’s bed to wake him up. This had become their morning ritual, wake Harry, Blaise, and Theo up, whoever woke to the alarm first, and leave Draco and the hulking giants for when they were done. After getting up and going to lunch, Harry and Draco met up with Ron, Hermione, and Neville to spend the rest of the day outside, even though Hermione wanted to spend it in the library. The boys quickly convinced her that not getting enough sunlight was just as bad for tests as not studying enough, and they spent the rest of the day in the sun._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please comment your thoughts below.
> 
> Next chapter: More on Sirius Black and a tiny bit with classes.


	8. Say My Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry learns more about Sirius Black and goes to classes, and we learn why Snape didn't hate Harry on sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter! Please read and review!

Madam Bones replied to Harry’s letter on Sunday. She said that the fact that there was no record of a trial probably meant there was none, and his request for a trial would be granted if there had been no trial for absolute sure. There were a couple other places she could check to make sure of the lack of records. Harry sent a letter back thanking her and asking her to let him know what she found.

Classes the next week continued on as usual, with occasional points taken from Slytherin when Harry “corrected” his last name a little too loudly. A few of the teachers seemed to find it hilarious, but they still took a point or two. He made extra sure to be quiet in Potions, because he did not want to be on Professor Snape’s bad side, especially since he really did love the class. 

Transfiguration continued to be difficult, and Professor McGonagall was very stern. She always took more points than she gave, it seemed, even if it wasn’t for frivolous things. And she rarely took points from Gryffindor, but she also rarely gave points to anyone, and if she did it was usually only up to five. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the class, she just seemed to think he would be better at it than he was, which made him feel uncomfortable when she was almost always disappointed. It helped that Hermione was there and could help him figure out what he was doing wrong most of the time.

Charms continued to be a class favorite. Professor Flitwick was a fun teacher and he knew ways to teach that would make it easier for the students. He rarely took points, unless it was for outright disrespect or for fighting. He didn’t even take points for Harry’s last name replacements, chuckling with the rest of the class every time he heard it. There was even a time or two when the professor didn’t call Harry Mr. Potter, instead using the charm he was teaching this week, _Lumos _.__

____

____

DADA was a joke. Professor Quirrel stuttered so much that no one could understand him, and he always smelled like garlic. Harry’s scar always hurt in his classes too. Harry had gone to see Madam Pomfrey, the school healer, at the urging of Neville and Draco, who he also had the class with, but she hadn’t been able to do much to help him. She just suggested that it was the garlic smell, and when he mentioned that he had never had his scar hurt because of overwhelming garlic scent before, she just gave him a single dose of a mild pain potion and sent him on his way. 

Most of the other Houses disliked Potions, but once Harry mentioned that Snape was so hard on everyone because if the right, or wrong in this case, potion is made wrong, it could kill everyone in the castle, people were less vocal about why the professor was so mean. No one was happy about the amounts of points taken from every House but Slytherin, but they couldn’t do much about it. Harry quite enjoyed Potions. It was like a mix of Muggle chemistry and cooking, which was one of the few chores Harry had actually enjoyed.

History of Magic was just as much a joke as DADA. Harry, Draco, and Neville used it to do other homework so they didn’t have as much for the weekend, and the rest of their class quickly caught on. They then read the textbook after class and took turns retelling it dramatically.

Flying was fun, and Harry learned quickly. Flying came as naturally to him as it did to a bird. He enjoyed it intensely.

Astronomy was late, and Harry barely stayed awake through the whole class. It was interesting other than that, thankfully.

Herbology was another class favorite. Professor Sprout also rarely took points, and it was the only class Harry “corrected” his name loudly enough for the professor to hear on purpose. Professor Sprout laughed every time.

His letters with Amelia Bones continued and Harry quickly discovered that there had been no trial for Sirius Black. They continued to write back and forth, negotiating when they could have the trial so that Harry could be there. They finally decided on the afternoon of Halloween. Harry had no classes on Thursday afternoons, and it was only the second week of September, so he had plenty of time to ask for permission. As soon as he received the final date, he went to see Professor Snape.

He handed the letter to Professor Snape. “I learned when Professor Sprout took me to get my supplies that my godfather was in prison for betraying my parents. The way they found him sounded suspicious so I looked into it. I found out there was no trial and have been trying to find a time I’m not in class so I can watch the trial. We decided on this date.”

Professor Snape listened patiently. “What about the way he was found was suspicious?”

“The way there was only a finger left of Pettigrew, for starters. What explosion have you ever heard of that leaves _only _a finger and _nothing __else _?”______

____Professor Snape nodded slowly. “And the Muggles were all in multiple pieces as well. It is suspicious. Anything else?”_ _ _ _

____Harry hesitated. “Not really. Just the feeling that the way he was caught was _too _perfect. What kind of person laughs hysterically when he’s just killed seventeen people, even if one of them didn’t actually die. I’m told that he actually was at my house when Hagrid went to pick me up. How long does it take to kill a baby? I know the killing spell didn’t work, but if he had a knife, he could have cut my throat, or dropped me out the window. He could have killed me easily, so why didn’t he?”___ _ _ _

______Professor Snape was listening more closely now. “Why is the eleven year old the only one who asks these questions?” He muttered. His eyes narrowed suddenly. “Why do you know what a perfect setup looks like?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Harry froze. “Err… no real reason. Is there a spell to see what spells were used on a wand last? Or even a charm that makes people laugh?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Professor Snape frowned at the non-answer, but answered the questions anyway. “Both of these exist. I don’t believe they took the time to cast _Priori __Incantatem _before they snapped his wand, and while Pettigrew was not the most powerful of wizards, even he was able to cast a Cheering Charm.”___ _ _ _ _ _ __

________Harry paused. “Did you know my parents, sir? It’s just, the emotion you have for Pettigrew says that you knew him, and my father and mother were in the same class as him. The disdain you use when you talk about Pettigrew could be for many reasons, but if I had to guess, he probably bullied you, possibly with his friends, which… included my father, but not my mother, at least not at first, from the stories Professor Sprout told me about my dad.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________It was Professor Snape’s turn to freeze. “Why do you presume that I was bullied, and that I was not the bully, as most of your classmates would have?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Well, sir, you may be a little mean in class, but most of it is because if a potion explodes just right, or wrong I suppose, it could kill everyone in the castle. And yeah, I’ve noticed that you take a lot of points from Gryffindor especially, and give a lot of points to Slytherin, but several other teachers take a lot of points from Slytherin and give points to Gryffindor almost excessively, and since you’re a relatively young teacher, you probably didn’t start the cycle. Those are the actions of someone who was bullied, extensively, and knowing that this is a magic school, some of the bullying hurt a lot more than getting thrown into a wall.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Professor Snape was speechless. Harry presumed it was because he had hit it right on the head. He was proven right a moment later when his Head of House sighed and sank back into his chair._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yes, I knew your parents. Your mother and I were good friends. We grew up on the same street and I was the one who told her she had magic. Your father and I, however, did not get along at all. Lily and I were friends throughout all of school, and only grew apart after we graduated. There was one time I thought I lost her friendship, in fifth year, but I apologized as soon as I had calmed down, and she forgave me immediately. She even had the audacity to say that she knew why I did what I did.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________This was the most Harry had heard Professor Snape talk except for in class, and it was definitely the first time he had seen even a _hint _of a smile on the dour professor’s face.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“You look a lot like her,” Professor Snape continued. “If your hair was red and you didn’t have the glasses or the scar, I might have been hard pressed to tell you apart.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Harry was quiet for a moment. “I didn’t know she had red hair. And everyone seems to think I look like my dad.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Professor Snape nodded. “They don’t look as closely as I do. They just see his hair and her eyes and nothing else. Have you never seen a picture of your mother?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Harry shook his head. “Aunt Petunia didn’t like mum. She said she married some good for nothing drunk and they died in a car crash. I know better now, of course, but hearing her say those things about my parents still hurt, especially when I was younger.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Professor Snape frowned again. “You were sent to live with _Petunia _?” He asked incredulously.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Err… yes?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Professor Snape picked up the letter that started the conversation and read through it again. Then he pulled out a parchment and wrote a short note and signed it. “Send this with your next letter to Madam Bones. Even Black would be better for a child than that cow, and you deserve to meet him before he shows up to take custody of you.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo... that entire conversation with Snape was completely unplanned, but the muse took it and ran, so it worked. Please comment if you liked it, and comment if you didn't!
> 
> Next chapter: Halloween and Sirius' trial.


	9. What's in a Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius Black's trial!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure I promised the troll this time, but Sirius' trial just kept writing itself. You'll see how that will work in the next chapter. Also y'all should know that I have absolutely no legal experience except for like three episodes of Perry Mason and the like three times Matt Murdock is in court in Daredevil. I also apologize for the weird writing near the end, it was late and I was half falling asleep.
> 
> Hope you guys like the chapter! Please read and review!

The next two months passed quickly. Fewer teachers took points off for Harry’s name corrections, although Professor McGonagall was one of the ones who kept holding on, taking off a point for each correction she heard. Harry found a picture of his mum when she was his age on his bedside table the morning after his talk with Professor Snape, and he made sure to thank the man when he next saw him. Harry continued to hang out with his friends and found out that while Hermione was a bookworm, her favorite activity was actually swimming. It was too cold to go swimming in the lake unfortunately, or Harry would have asked to learn. Draco loved apples, especially green ones, and there were always a selection of apples at meal times. Neville was especially good at Herbology, and he was the one they all went to for help on it. Ron was extremely good at chess. It had gotten to a point where none of the first years would play him because he was just too good.

The professors hadn’t seen an entire class ignore House rivalry in their entire time as students or professors like the current first year. Every student seemed to get mostly along with each other. Of course some students didn’t like each other, but it wasn’t because they were in a different House. The center of it all seemed to be Harry Potter and his group of friends. They had broken the barrier first by staying friends even after they were Sorted into different Houses. The professors didn’t know what to make of Harry Potter. They had all expected a second coming of James Potter. Instead they got someone who wasn’t James or Lily. Harry was his own person, and they were all glad of it.

Harry laughed as Draco whined that he hadn’t been able to finish his Charms homework as they headed to lunch on Halloween. Harry was extremely excited. Today was the day he would meet Sirius Black. He didn’t know what the man would be like, but he did know, instinctively, that he was innocent. He had one more class today, then would leave for the Ministry of Magic for the trial at 2 o’clock. The boys chatted through lunch, then hurried to class. They had it with the Hufflepuffs, so Harry and Draco sat next to Neville. Harry could barely sit still. The professor didn’t bother asking him to answer any questions, knowing he was too distracted. The second class was dismissed, Harry said a hasty goodbye to his friends and headed towards the door. He was meeting Professor Snape in ten minutes and he had just enough time to drop off his books if he hurried. A voice called to him in the hallway.

“Portcullis! Good luck at the trial!”

Harry waved back at whoever it was and hurried on. He dropped his books off and practically ran to Professor Snape’s office.

“Just on time, Potter,” Professor Snape’s voice drawled. “Let’s go. We will be travelling by Floo. It is unpleasant the first time. You must say your destination clearly and with purpose. Repeat after me. Ministry of Magic Atrium.”

“Ministry of Magic Atrium.”

“Good. Do not stutter when you say it, or you will be tossed out who knows where. My fireplace is a bit too small for both of us or I would go with you, so I will have you go first. Say the address one more time.”

“Ministry of Magic Atrium.”

“Good. In you go.” With that, Professor Snape unceremoniously handed him a handful of powder and told him to toss it down as he said the address. Harry did as told and felt himself spinning in place, unable to see where he was going. He fell out of a fireplace in an unfamiliar place, with a fountain in the middle of the room. There was a crowd of people and he quickly scrambled up and to the side. He wondered which of the multiple fireplaces Professor Snape would be coming out of. His question was answered a moment later as the professor’s smooth stride walked out of a fireplace across from him. Harry hurried over to him, barely brushing anyone around him with the skill that could only come from walking through crowds many times. Professor Snape didn’t seem surprised when Harry practically appeared beside him, simply striding quickly towards an elevator.

Harry followed quietly, just looking around. He saw many interesting things, not least of which was the paper airplanes that flew around carrying messages to people. They soon arrived at the room where the trial would happen, which was a circular room, with seats rising in a circle around the center of the room where a chair with chains was sitting. Professor Snape led Harry to a seat near the middle of an aisle and they sat down. There were already several people there, including an ugly woman who looked like a toad in all pink sitting next to an important looking man who Professor Snape informed Harry was the Minister, Cornelius Fudge, and Headmaster Dumbledore. 

“Why is Headmaster Dumbledore here?” Harry asked Professor Snape quietly.

“The headmaster also holds several positions in the Wizengamot, which is the group meeting right now. They’re basically the ruling group, even if Minister Fudge supposedly has more power. The minister is known for taking bribes.” Professor Snape’s voice was equally quiet as he answered. 

Harry nodded and just watched. Exactly at two, a ragged looking man was brought in and chained to the chair in the center of the room. His black hair was unwashed and tangled, and he looked like he had just woken from several nightmares happening simultaneously. His eyes were haunted, and he looked around as if he thought that it was all just a horrible dream about to turn worse. 

The trial began with several people standing up and making a huge fuss about Sirius Black’s obvious guilt, including, Harry noticed with narrowed eyes, Headmaster Dumbledore. Eventually Madam Bones was able to get everyone to calm down and she turned to Mr. Black.

“You are getting a long overdue trial for the possible betrayal of the Potter family. Someone who heard the circumstances thought they sounded strange and looked into it. Do you consent to usage of _Veritaserum _?” Madam Bones’ voice was loud and clear, with no hint of any emotion except, perhaps, the wish to get this over with quickly and correctly.__

__Harry looked at Professor Snape questioningly at the strange word._ _

__“ _Veritaserum _is a potion that makes the one who takes the correct dosage tell only the truth. They cannot lie under its affects,” the professor whispered. Harry nodded and turned back to the front.___ _

____Mr. Black seemed to be taking a while to understand the question, but he finally said, with a voice hoarse from disuse, “I agree to the usage of Veritaserum in my trial.”  
Madam Bones nodded to an attendant, who was standing next to her with a potion vial that at first look was empty, but when looked at closer, simply had a clear potion in it, and an eye dropper. He stepped forward, pulled some of the potion into the eye dropper, and dropped exactly three drops into the open mouth of Sirius Black. Harry watched his eyes go dull and completely emotionless._ _ _ _

____“What is your full name?” Madam Bones asked._ _ _ _

____“Sirius Orion Black,” came the monotone reply._ _ _ _

____“What year did you graduate from Hogwarts?” Harry guessed the first few questions were control questions, to make sure the potion was working correctly._ _ _ _

____“1978.”_ _ _ _

____“The potion is in working order. I will now begin the questioning,” Madam Bones said, proving Harry right. “I will begin at the end and work my way to the beginning. Did you kill Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggles  
the night of October 31st, 1981?”_ _ _ _

____“No.” Mr. Black’s voice had no inflection, and Harry found it discomfiting._ _ _ _

____“Did you try to kill Peter Pettigrew the night of October 31st, 1981?”_ _ _ _

____“Yes.”_ _ _ _

____A murmur rose from the crowd at that answer, and Madam Bones held up her hand for silence._ _ _ _

____“Who fired the curse that killed the twelve muggles on the night of October 31st, 1981?”_ _ _ _

____“Peter Pettigrew.”_ _ _ _

____The courtroom was completely silent now, hanging on every word._ _ _ _

____“Were you the Potter’s Secret Keeper while they were in hiding at Godric’s Hollow?”_ _ _ _

____“No.”_ _ _ _

____The courtroom erupted in sound again, and Madam Bones silenced them all with her hand._ _ _ _

____“Who was the Secret Keeper for the Potter’s while they were in hiding at Godric’s Hollow?”_ _ _ _

____“Peter Pettigrew.”_ _ _ _

____“Very well. Administer the antidote,” Madam Bones said._ _ _ _

____They did, and Mr. Black blinked rapidly a few times, looking around. The Wizengamot conferred quietly for a few minutes, then Madam Bones turned back to the center of the room. “Is Mr. Black innocent? All in  
favor, raise your hands.”_ _ _ _

____The vast majority of the group raised their hands, and Madam Bones continued. “All opposed?”_ _ _ _

____Only a few hands went up this time, and Madam Bones nodded, satisfied. “Lord Black, you are released from Azkaban into the custody of St. Mungos. You will receive reparations of 1000 galleons for every year you  
were in Azkaban, coming to a total of 10,000 galleons. You will spend as long at St. Mungos as they require you to be there for to ensure that you will suffer no long term effects from the Dementors. If you are   
named physically and mentally fit by the healers there by the end of May, you will be granted supervisory custody of your godson, Harry Potter. I will have a letter detailing exactly what supervisory custody means   
in your case if you are declared fit by the named time. Any medical issues, such as visitors, will be handled by St. Mungos.”_ _ _ _

____Harry turned to Professor Snape with pleading eyes, and the professor sighed. “I will ask if you can spend a few minutes with Black before he leaves for St. Mungos.”_ _ _ _

____“Thank you, Professor!” Harry exclaimed. Professor Snape walked up to Madam Bones as she was turning towards the door, Harry on his heels._ _ _ _

____“Mr. Potter here would like to spend a couple minutes with Lord Black,” Professor Snape said. “Can this be arranged? It would be now, before he leaves for St. Mungos.”_ _ _ _

____Madam Bones looked at Harry and smiled softly. “I suppose a few minutes won’t hurt anyone, and you and I will both be there if anything goes wrong.”_ _ _ _

____“Thank you, Madam Bones!” Harry’s voice had become slightly more childlike with his excitement, and his eyes glowed with a happiness Professor Snape hadn’t seen from the child so far in the few months at  
Hogwarts. Madam Bones led the way to Mr. Black, who had just been unchained and was being led gently to the door. Harry walked excitedly next to her, but slowed nervously as they drew closer to Mr. Black. He   
hoped the man liked him. He hoped that if the man liked him he would take him away from the Dursley’s. _ _ _ _

____His worries were thrown away the moment Mr. Black caught sight of him. The joy he showed was practically thrown across the room, it was so palpable._ _ _ _

____“Pup!” Mr. Black called happily. “You’ve grown so much!”_ _ _ _

____Harry grinned. This was the voice he had thought he heard a few times in his dreams. “Padfoot!” he cried just as joyfully, running up to the man and acting more his age than he had in years._ _ _ _

____“You remembered,” Sirius breathed. “I wasn’t sure you would, the last time you called me that was more than ten years ago.”_ _ _ _

____Harry grinned, then wrapped his arms hesitantly around the older man. Sirius instantly hugged him back._ _ _ _

____“Mr. Potter here is the one who asked questions about you, Lord Black.” Madam Bones’ voice came from behind Harry, who refused to leave Sirius’ arms just yet._ _ _ _

____“Tortoise,” he muttered under his breath. Sirius looked down at him strangely._ _ _ _

____“Did you just say tortoise?” he asked._ _ _ _

____Harry reluctantly pulled back. “I don’t like the attention my last name gives me, so I started a joke where I introduce myself to anyone new with a different last name. Then everyone just started doing it, and we all  
started replacing my name in class.”_ _ _ _

____Sirius barked a laugh. “Sounds like fun, kiddo. Now, what House are you in? Have you made any friends? Tell me everything.”_ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so the title change from Mr. to Lord. Sirius is a lord, but since he was in Azkaban, I figured his titles would be stripped from him, thus Mr. His proven innocence gave him his title back. The detailedness of the questions was on purpose. If someone knows multiple true answers to a vague question, which would the suspect answer? In this AU, Veritaserum, while not taking away all your thought process, takes away all filters that would make you follow conversation cues. For instance, if Madam Bones had asked, "Who was the Secret Keeper?" and didn't put any modifiers or specifics on, and Sirius knew more than one Secret Keeper, he might name some random name that no one has ever heard of, or he might be the other Secret Keeper and he would name himself, thus wrongfully accusing himself, etc. Let me know if that didn't make sense, and I'll try to explain better.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you liked, or if you hated it!
> 
> Next chapter: The troll.


	10. Who's Name is That?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The troll!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I literally cried at one part writing this. The FEELS.
> 
> Anyway. I hope y'all enjoy! Please read and review!

After Harry and Sirius finished talking, Professor Snape took Harry back to Hogwarts, but this time by Apparition. Since you couldn’t Apparate into Hogwarts grounds, they got to the front gates and had to walk the remainder of the distance. Professor Snape made a white doe appear out of his wand by saying something that sounded like Expecto Patronum and told it to tell the professors at the feast that the two were back and that they would be headed directly to the Slytherin dorms and getting dinner there. Harry stopped by a bathroom on the way there and Professor Snape continued on. 

As Harry continued down to the dungeons after he finished his business, he heard a strange snuffling sound. Assuming it was some weird creature Hagrid had lost track of, Harry cautiously looked around the corner the sound had come from. He would have screamed if he hadn’t slammed his fist into his mouth. It was a troll. Harry had read about them. They were extremely dangerous, even if they weren’t very intelligent. Harry slowly backed away from the corner and back towards the bathroom. He didn’t want to be in an enclosed space with one, but hopefully it wouldn’t be a problem. Suddenly the troll lumbered around the corner and spotted Harry, who quickly turned around and saw that this was one of the few hallways that ended in a dead end. He quickly ran into the bathroom next to him, not particularly caring which bathroom he was in. He closed the door as quickly as he could without slamming it and making more noise, hoping that if the troll thought he’d just vanished it would go away. Just in case, he also went into one of the stalls and crouched on the toilet, so that nothing of him showed. His hopes were dashed a moment later as the troll slammed in, breaking the door down with its cudgel. The troll snuffled around a bit, and Harry didn’t move a muscle, not even breathing. Suddenly he heard a bang and he flinched. The troll had destroyed one of the sinks. Harry remained still, not knowing how to get help, and too terrified to move in any case. Another bang came, and another sink met its doom to the troll. Harry could hear water spurting everywhere and the troll getting closer. Suddenly, the stall on the other end of the row was destroyed, sending up a spray of water as the cudgel went through the toilet. The next stall met the same fate a few seconds later. There was only one stall between Harry and the troll. He let out a terrified shriek as the troll smashed the last stall before Harry’s. That ended up being his saving grace, as a moment later, four first years burst in, apparently having been looking for him.

“Harry!” Hermione’s voice screamed. 

A voice from a different side of the room yelled, “Hey ugly! Over here!” It was Ron. 

Draco slid under the door of the last stall and saw Harry crying as silently as he could while still being hysterical. Draco quickly grabbed him by his hands and pulled him into a tight hug for just a moment, then quickly pulled him out of the stall into the chaos that waited outside. Hermione and Ron were yelling insults at the troll from opposite sides of the room, confusing it, while Neville was standing near the door, not making any noise but clearly watching for a professor. He turned as Draco got there with Harry, though, and quickly and quietly got Hermione and Ron’s attention. One at a time, they slowly inched their way to the door, sending loud popping sounds out of their wands at random intervals to keep confusing the monster. As soon as they all reached the door, they took off at a sprint, Hermione sending one last loud pop   
towards the troll.

They quickly found a teacher, luckily Professor Snape, and Harry burst into more tears and threw himself at the professor. 

Professor Snape suddenly found himself with an armful of hysterical eleven year old and four more first years also looking terrified but much less so than Harry. “What happened?” He asked softly, not wanting to snap at the children when they were already so terrified.

“Professor Snape! Oh thank goodness we found you!” Draco cried. “The troll was in the bathroom with Harry! When he wasn’t in the common room or our dorm room when we all got there I tried to find a prefect but they all told me to bugger off. Then I tried to find you, but you were already long gone. I knew I couldn’t do anything alone, and there were no other teachers and all the prefects were so busy that I quickly told Ron, Neville, and Hermione, and we quickly made a plan. We knew the route you and Harry would take from the front doors to the dungeons so we started there. We saw the bathroom door had been knocked down and the sinks and the stalls were all destroyed but one. Then Harry screamed, and we had to do SOMETHING or he would have DIED! Ron and Herm distracted the troll by yelling at it from opposite sides of the room while Neville watched at the door for a teacher and I snuck in to get Harry. As soon as we got Harry Ron and Herm inched their way slowly back to the door while casting spells that made popping sounds to distract it and as soon as everyone was back at the door we ran until we found you.”

The group had been walking away from the bathroom quickly as Draco explained, with Harry still in Professor Snape’s arms. The professor took in the information that Draco dumped on him. “You did the right   
thing, Dragon,” he said, using the term of endearment he had often heard Narcissa Malfoy use when the child was scared. “You tried to get an adult or a prefect, and when that didn’t work, you didn’t go barreling in by yourself. You found friends, you made a plan, and you didn’t actively try to attack the troll. You were all very lucky, and the situation should have never occurred, but that’s hardly your fault.”

The more he spoke with the soft soothing voice, the more the five children calmed down. Harry’s sobs were now only hiccups, and the other four didn’t look nearly as terrified anymore. Harry still clung to Professor Snape’s robes, but the professor knew that was to be expected. The child had nearly died only a few moments ago. He found an empty classroom and transfigured a large couch from one of the chairs, then sat in the middle of it, Harry still in his lap, and motioned for the other four to sit with them. As he expected they would, they cuddled as close as they could. Less terrified, but still very frightened.

He continued to talk softly to them, not saying much of importance, and sent a patronus to Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore. After a few minutes, plenty of time for the patronus to have reached at least one of the two professors, he summoned another and let it prance around the room, the innate calming magic helping the still slightly hysterical child on his lap greatly. The doe walked up behind the couch and nudged Harry with her muzzle, making the child giggle a little bit. He carefully reached out a hand and touched the doe, surprised when it was more solid than he expected. He began to pet the beautiful animal and slowly began to uncurl from his tight ball, even giggling a few times as the deer nuzzled him on the cheek. 

The door opened then, and Professor McGonagall, Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout entered the room. Professor McGonagall saw the doe and gasped quietly. She wasn’t really surprised to see the children all huddled together with Professor Snape, as he knew he was actually quite the gentle person and would never terrify children more than to put the fear of exploding potions in them, especially if they were already terrified of something that he had not done on purpose.

“Did you dispatch of the troll?” he asked softly, letting his patronus disappear. Harry looked sad for a moment, then noticed the other professors in the room. Thoroughly embarrassed, he slid out of the professor’s lap and next to Draco on the couch.

“Yes. We got rid of it,” Professor Sprout said in a no nonsense tone that instantly put the children at ease. “We also closed off the bathroom until it can be repaired. Luckily there are plenty of bathrooms elsewhere that can be used.” As she spoke she had bustled over to the children and was now fussing over them, making sure none of them were hurt. “Come now, you lot, let’s get you to Madam Pomfrey. I daresay you could all use a Calming Draught. Severus, you should get one too, although I don’t doubt that you can get your own or that you would protest wildly if I tried to make you come with us, so I’ll let you explain everything to Minerva, Filius, and Albus. Someone can fill me in later.” With that the dumpy woman herded the children to the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey was a lovely older woman who reminded Harry of a mixture of Professors Sprout and McGonagall. She was stern, but very gentle. She cast a quick diagnostic spell to make absolute sure none of them were hurt, making the spell look at the last two years of the lives of Hermione and Harry, just in case there was something that she should be aware of in their home lives. The other three were purebloods, so she had all their records on file. Harry’s list was promising to be longer, so she folded it discretely as it grew to make it look about the same length to the children in front of her. She saw none of them suffered from anything except terror, so she gave them all Calming Draughts and sent them to bed. She then sent a copy of Harry’s scan to Professor Snape with a note that it would be alright to leave it until morning and that it was best to just go to bed now.

The five first years quickly agreed to sit together at breakfast and split to head to their dorms. Draco led Harry to the dorm and they sat together on Harry’s bed. Draco intended to get up soon, but they both fell asleep before he could get to his own bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so rushed at the end. I tried to kind of show how a terrified eleven year old who almost died would see everything, and he's falling asleep already, poor dear, so everything kinda just flies by so quickly he barely notices anything.
> 
> Please leave me a comment! They fuel me to write more!
> 
> Next chapter: The younglings sit together and give each other nicknames. Snape is never getting a full nights sleep again. (That's a joke btw. He'll be fine)


	11. Frick That Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The firsties give each other nicknames.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, but I needed to get something out and this was a good place to start. Tomorrow I doubt I'll post anything, cause I'll be on my way back to school for most of the day, and then I'll need to unpack and by then I'm just gonna want to collapse into bed. There should be a chapter on Tuesday though. After that chapter, I'll start going to only one or maybe two a week, depending on how much homework I have.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy! Please read and review!

The next morning at breakfast, Harry, Draco, Ron, Hermione, and Neville all sat together at the Slytherin table. All the older students silently made room for the firsties without making a fuss. Naturally, since the entire incident the night before was a secret, everyone knew about it. The five first years chattered happily about nothing in particular, then left early to go find somewhere more private to talk. They quickly found an empty classroom and pulled the chairs together to sit. Ron started the tale of how Professor Quirrel had run into the Great Hall, stuttering about a troll in the dungeons. Headmaster Dumbledore had made it back to the school before Harry and Professor Snape, so he had ordered everyone to their dorms. 

“Draco, the prat, refused to leave without at least three apples,” Ron laughed.

“Maybe we should call you Apple,” Harry laughed. The other three laughed, while Draco pouted. 

“If I’m going to be running to the dungeons, I’m not doing it on an empty stomach,” he whined, making the other four laugh harder.

“We should all have nicknames!” Neville suggested excitedly.

“Oh yes!” Hermione quickly agreed. “Draco is Apple, of course.” The group giggled again, while Draco pouted some more.

“It was one time,” he whined.

“Too late to take it back now, Apple,” Ron laughed. “Neville should be something with plants since he’s so good with them.”

Harry nodded enthusiastically. “Ron should be something with the color orange since that’s his hair color, but also something with strategy cause he beats everyone at chess, and Hermione should be something that represents wisdom and stuff.”

“And Harry should be something helping make fun of his last name,” Neville threw in.

“Of Motu Nui,” Harry broke in. Hermione burst into giggles. 

“Next time you introduce yourself use that one, Harry! And I think your nickname should be [redacted],” Hermione said. Harry burst into laughter with her. The other three looked confused.

“On Muggle paperwork, if something important needs to be hidden from the public eye, instead of using a spell to hide it, they erase the information and put [redacted] in its place. And since I want to erase my last   
name, it’s perfect!” Harry explained. Now all the children were giggling uncontrollably.

“Oh! Ron’s name should be Bonfire! It suits his red hair and people often sit around bonfires to plan stuff!” Draco exclaimed. The other four nodded excitedly.

“Hermione should be Owlet,” Neville said. “Cause owls are wise, and we’re only first years, plus, saying Owl will get confusing in fifth year.” The group agreed again. 

“Neville is Mandrake. It’s a plant, and it has the word man in it, as well as drake, which are a kind of dragon, which are all very fierce, and we know Neville has a dragon inside just waiting to roar,” Harry said. 

“Oh that’s perfect!” Draco said. “I still think I shouldn’t be called Apple.”

“Too late, Apple,” Neville grinned. “You’re stuck with it now. No going back. You’re outvoted four to one.”

Draco groaned. “But all of you got such cool names!”

“It’s your own fault for thinking of the apples above yourself you prat,” Harry giggled. “Besides, Apple isn’t that bad of a name. Imagine being stuck with something horrible like Potter or something.”

All the children burst into giggles again. 

Hermione suddenly sat up. “We have to get to class now! Or at least Apple, [redacted], and Bonfire do. Mandrake and I have a free period. Run! You have potions right now and no matter how nice he was last night   
Professor Snape will still probably bite your heads off if you’re late!”

Harry and Draco gasped, then ran from the room, Ron hot on their tails. Hermione and Neville turned to each other and giggled, then pulled out their books to start on the homework that was still due.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment for me! They feed my soul. I am a Dementor and your comments are your souls I need them.
> 
> Next chapter: Harry makes a friend, kinda, and finds something weird.


	12. By My Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry finds something weird and follows it, as you do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aight after this chapter updates are going to be only once or twice a week, depending on how busy with school work I am. There will definitely be updates on every Saturday after this.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy! Please read and review,

The next weeks passed quickly. Hermione came up with a name for the group, Les Amis de l’ABC, and they shortened to Les Amis unless they had to label something, which Draco approved of, since it translated to The Friends, but it sounded way cooler. Classes continued as usual and Harry was rarely bored. 

On Saturday, Harry was wondering around on the grounds when he heard a voice from below.

#Sssstupid humanssss, walking into my nessst.# 

Harry was confused. Most people didn’t elongate their s’s like that. He looked down and saw a snake slithering its way along. He shrugged mentally and followed the voice as it moved. Snakes probably talked all the time, and maybe else he could try to help. He didn’t notice as he entered the Forbidden Forest. He followed the voice, eventually looking up and freezing as he realized where he was. It suddenly seemed to get much darker, and Harry hoped desperately it was just his mind making stuff up and not actually happening. Suddenly he heard a distressed sound, followed by a bunch of rustling, then by a beautiful horse with a horn running through the underbrush in front of him. Suddenly the poor unicorn was attacked by a strange thing in a cloak. It seemed to tear at the unicorn’s throat and the poor thing instantly fell. He watched as the creature in the cloak seemed to drink from the unicorn like a vampire, then it turned and looked right at him.

He screamed. 

Suddenly, another horse like creature leaped over him, driving away the spirit vampire thing. It turned around and he saw it was a centaur. Shaking, Harry barely heard as the centaur spoke to him, introducing himself as Firenze. Firenze took Harry’s face in his large hands and looked him in the eye. He said something in Latin, then asked how Harry had gotten into the forest. Harry was still extremely disoriented, so he had no idea if he answered the question correctly. Firenze must have noticed, because he was speaking in Latin again. Harry suddenly felt the word go dark. The last thing he felt was Firenze’s arms catching him before he hit the forest floor.

When he woke up again, he could remember the thing killing the unicorn easily, but it was like there was no emotion to it. He resolved to tell Professor Snape about the incident the next time he saw him and laid back down on the grass where the centaur—Firenze—had left him. He got up and headed down to the Common Room. The Slytherins were all gathered around a table near the center of the room, talking excitedly. Draco saw Harry and waved him over enthusiastically.

“Harry! Look what Flint’s Father sent him!” he exclaimed. Harry pushed his way to the middle of the group, since he couldn’t see over anyone, and gasped.

“A snake! It’s so pretty!” He began to coo at the snake. #Aren’t you a pretty one! Are you male or female?#

#A Sssspeaker?# The snake seemed overly excited about this, but Harry shrugged mentally. #I am female, Ssssspeaker.# 

#Why do you call me Sssssspeaker?#

#Because you ssssspeak.#

#Doesssssn’t everyone?#

#That issss an interessssting way to think of it, Ssssspeaker.#

#Call me Harry pleasssse.#

#Of coursssse, Harry#

#Do you have a name, pretty one?#

#My human hasssss named me Sssssalazar.#

#Why didn’t you tell him you are female?#

#He cannot underssssstand me.#

#Would you like me to tell him then?#

#Yessssss pleasssse.#

Harry looked up to see several pairs of wide eyes staring at him.

“H-harry, why didn’t you tell me you were a Parselmouth?” Draco finally stuttered out.

“A what?” Harry asked, confused.

“A Parselmouth is someone who can talk to snakes. The language they speak is called Parseltongue,” Flint broke in.

“Huh. Well she says she’s actually a girl and wants a more feminine name than Salazar.”

Marcus sputtered for a moment, and Draco burst into giggles next to Harry.

“Can you ask her if she would prefer a name?” Flint asked.

Harry turned to the snake. #Your human wantssss to know if you would like to choosssse a name, gorgeoussssss.#

#I like the name Sssssulu.# 

“She likes the name Sulu,” Harry said after turning back to the other children.

“Sulu it is then. I hope you know I’m going to be coming to you with any questions I have, Tomato.”

“Anything to see this pretty lady again.” #You have the mossst beautiful sssscalesssss, Sssssulu. I’m nearly jealousssssss.#

The snake hissed a laugh and Harry giggled.

He continued to talk to Sulu for a few minutes, asking her about how she liked her tank, if she needed anything else. He relayed everything to Flint, who listened intently. Harry even saw him pulling out a   
parchment and quill to write everything down. Harry knew he would be as good an owner as he could be for Sulu, and told her so. She agreed, having noticed that he was listening closely as Harry spoke.

“Harry, you need to know, you can’t tell anyone about this,” Draco said pulling him aside. “We can tell Les Amis, but no one else. They’ll all think you’re a Dark Wizard because you can talk to snakes. Never made sense to me. One guy speaks a language and he happens to be a bad guy and now no one can speak the language without prejudice.” He ended in a mutter.

Harry’s jaw dropped. “You-Know-Who could talk to snakes? Could anyone else?”

“Yeah, Salazar Slytherin was the first one we know of who could talk to snakes. Apparently he had a secret chamber somewhere in the school, and I would bet anything it used to be guarded by a snake. It’s probably dead by now, though, which is a good thing. No one should live that long by themselves, not even an animal.”

Harry agreed. “Let’s go tell Les Amis. We should really come up with a way to tell everyone when we want to tell them something. Something small so we can carry it around, and charmed so everyone can activate whatever it is whenever we need…” He trailed off. 

“Let’s let Owlet deal with that, but definitely bring it up, [redacted],” Draco agreed. “It’s a great idea.”

The two boys ran for their abandoned classroom and hoped they ran into the other members of Les Amis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you noticed the hint of things to come. I have many plans, and I have no intention of stopping this series before I finish. I have most of the way till fourth year planned, with hints of things in years past it.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed, and also tell me if you didn't.
> 
> Next chapter: Christmas and a strange gift.


	13. The Gift of a Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas gifts and midnight adventures, as well as a trip to see Sirius!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aight y'all get a long chapter tonight, so please read and give me a review!

Christmas had finally arrived, and with it, the distractions of decorations and general holiday cheer. Most of the professors were in the Christmas spirit and adjusted their classes accordingly. Fewer points were taken, and Harry was able to correct his name more often and louder in class, to laughter and no points taken. He wasn’t sure if it would last after the holiday, but he figured he would find out after break. Professor Flitwick taught them how to make lights of different colors, which seemed to be a variant of the Lumos charm. That week he called Harry Mr. Viridi, which was green in Latin, as they learned to make the lights green and red first, and red hardly fit the young Slytherin.

Professor Sprout taught the children about mistletoe and a few other holiday related plants, which surprisingly did have a few magical properties. Harry found that lecture particularly fascinating.

Professors Snape and McGonagall seemed to be the only ones who weren’t in the holiday spirit. Professor Snape snapped at more students than he had the entire year so far, it seemed, mostly Gryffindors, and took   
almost as many points. Professor McGonagall, while not seeming any more stern than usual, seemed to be even harsher when mistakes happened, taking points for any word spoken wrong in her class. Harry   
wondered what had happened to them to make them dislike Christmas.

Meanwhile he was exchanging letters with Sirius, who was still in St. Mungos, and Harry doubted he would be out before the New Year. Ten years was a long time to be stuck with Dementors, even if he had been Padfoot as often as he could. Luckily, he still had his sense of humor mostly intact and gave Harry a new last name ever letter, from Tartar to Mordor. Harry didn’t know how he knew what Mordor was, but then he remembered that his mum was a Muggleborn and had probably brought in at least some books from the Muggles. Lord of the Rings was a classic and he didn’t blame her one bit for showing it to her friends. He started returning his names in kind, using names like Charn, Snowball, and Monte Cristo. He hadn’t read as much as he would have liked when he was living with the Dursleys, but he had managed to escape to a library on occasion.

Hagrid brought in twelve whole Christmas trees just for the Great Hall, and they were all much taller than the half giant. All of the halls were indeed decked, and the bells jingled quite merrily indeed. One day while they were having a snowball fight on the lawn, the Weasley Twins managed to jinx some snowballs to keep following Professor Quirrel around and hit him in his turban. Harry thought it was very funny, and maybe a bit mean, but the worst that happened was getting a little wet, and none of the snowballs even went into his face.

The beginning of break arrived and most of the students left. There were only a few students left, and Harry was the only one who stayed in Slytherin. The Weasleys also stayed, as well as two Hufflepuffs, a girl named Hannah Abbott who was close acquaintances with Neville, and Ernie MacMillan, who Harry remembered from the Sorting, and three Ravenclaws, none of which he knew well at all.

Christmas morning dawned on a deeply sleeping Harry, who groaned at the strange light filtering through the lake and rolled over, wanting to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, he heard a light thump against his window and shot into a sitting position. He slowly turned toward the window and saw a strange shape that seemed to have too many limbs. He smiled with too many teeth to be a real smile and said, “Hello, Bob. I knew there was a reason I wanted to fight you.”

The squid seemed to be laughing at him, waving his many tentacles. Harry growled under his breath. “Bloody squid. Can’t even get a good lay in.” He flopped back onto his bed before shooting up again. 

“It’s Christmas!” he yelled, then flushed, before remembering he was the only one here and whooped even louder. He bounced on his bed, then caught sight of a small pile of wrapped presents at the foot of his   
bed. “I got _presents _?” he breathed, incredulous. He had only gotten a few presents before, and they had all been horrible, a single old sock of Vernon’s or an extra pair of Dudley’s old underwear.__

__This was the biggest pile of presents for him that he had ever seen. He carefully grabbed the top one, not wanting to damage whatever was inside. It was from Draco and he grinned. He was glad he had thought to give everyone in Les Amis a gift. He carefully opened the wrapping paper, trying not to tear it. It was the prettiest paper he had ever seen. Inside the parcel was a small box. He opened it to find a ring with a silvery gem set in it. It wasn’t a perfect shape at all, and he loved that. He read the note that came with it and saw that Draco had sent rings to all of Les Amis. They had charms that would make them blink when they twisted them, lighting up all the other gems with the corresponding color so they knew who was calling for the meeting. He wrote that they should come up with a code so they knew if it was an emergency or something else, and where they should meet if they weren’t in Hogwarts for whatever reason. Harry loved it. He was definitely going to show Ron and make Ron show him his._ _

__Speaking of Ron, the redhead had sent him a package of Muggle nametags. The note said that he could use them to correct his name without saying anything and disrupting class. Harry laughed loudly and almost fell off his bed._ _

__Hermione had sent him a rather heavy package, and Harry guessed it had a book in it. He was proven right when he opened it to find a book on Charms. He flipped through it briefly to get a feel for it and reached for another present._ _

__This one was from Neville, and it was a small plant. Instructions for how to care for it were in a note attached to the package. Harry set it carefully on his bedside table and grinned. He grabbed the second to last package, which said it was from a Molly Weasley. Harry suspected this was Ron’s mum and opened it to find a beautiful green sweater with an H embroidered on the left breast. He set it carefully aside and reminded himself to tell Ron to thank his mum for him._ _

__The final present was wrapped in nondescript brown paper. The note attached didn’t say who it was from, only that it had belonged to his father. He opened it carefully, and a long bit of cloth flowed through his hands. He could barely feel it. He looked down at his lap, and gasped as his legs weren’t there. He lifted the silvery material and saw his legs, plain as day. “An _invisibility cloak _,” he breathed in awe. Draco had talked about them, and Harry thought they sounded amazing. He decided he was going to try it out during the break. Maybe not tonight, but definitely before everyone came back.___ _

____After he had opened all of his presents he practically ran out of the Common Room, headed toward the Great Hall. Ron met him there, just as excited as Harry was. He had a ring with a red gem on it. They sat next to each other, chattering happily about their presents until they got up to go find their classroom. The whole group might not be there, but it was tradition, and honestly they were just used to walking that direction after meals._ _ _ _

____A couple nights later Harry got a chance to use his cloak. He decided to follow the snake hallways, to see where they led besides the Great Hall. He turned the opposite direction and wandered down, keeping an eye on the walls. He eventually reached an almost empty classroom. The only thing there was a mirror. Curious, he stepped in front of it, forgetting that he had the invisibility cloak on and being very confused when there was no reflection at all._ _ _ _

____Taking off his cloak, he saw himself, but a little taller than he actually was, which confused Harry even more because he knew he was too short to be healthy, as much as he had tried to grow this year. Then things got even stranger. Two people appeared in the mirror with him, a lady with dark red hair who looked quite a bit like him, and a man with his messy hair. He had never seen these people before, and he glanced behind him quickly to make sure that no one had entered the classroom without his knowledge. When he saw no one there he looked more closely at the mirror. He saw an inscription on it:_ _ _ _

_____erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi ____ _ _ _

______He looked at it for a moment before it hit him. This was a mirror. The writing was a mirror as well. He sounded out each word and got:_ _ _ _ _ _

_______I show not your face but your heart’s desire. ____ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry immediately backed away, grabbing his cloak and putting it on. This was not a safe mirror. Why was it with a bunch of kids? If you had a mirror that showed you what you wanted, then the person who found  
it might never want to leave. Harry didn’t look at the mirror again as he left the room._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He followed the snakes back to the common room, then cast a spell to check the time. Seeing that it was still relatively early since he hadn’t had to sneak past any of his housemates, Harry decided to keep wandering around for a little while. This time he was extremely careful to walk quietly, since he was going to be walking in the more populated area, even if it was only teachers. He saw Professor Quirrel, and decided to follow him for a little while, just to see what he would do. The professor was practically useless with his stutter, and while it wasn’t his fault, he could at least write what he was saying on the blackboard in all the rooms._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Professor Quirrel seemed very agitated and was muttering to himself. Harry got just a little bit closer to see what he could hear. To his shock, the professor wasn’t stuttering at all! He seemed a bit mad, because he was talking to himself, or at least something only he could see, and calling it Master._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Master, I cannot reach the stone! The protections around it are too well placed and the people who set them will not tell me how to get past them! What should I do?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry listened, but there was no answering voice. He decided that the professor was most certainly barmy. He continued following the man anyway, curious as to where he was going. To his shock, the professor walked straight to the third floor corridor, and opened a door with the unlocking spell they were learning in Charms. Harry watched as the door swung open, and the professor looked inside carefully, as if afraid._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry waited until the professor had left, then unlocked the door again and peeked inside. What he saw nearly made him scream. If he hadn’t remembered that the professor had just left moments before and would instantly know that Harry had followed him, he would have. Harry instead settled for closing the door quickly but quietly, wishing against everything that his friends were with him. Ron at least was in the school, but the redhead would be sleeping in his dorms. Draco would have been the best, but only because the two were in the same dorm and could stay together. Harry practically ran down to the Slytherin Common Room and barely got the password out and himself into the room before bursting into tears._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The dog had been huge, and if it had heard or smelled Harry, he knew that he wouldn’t still be alive. Frightened and exhausted, stumbled over to the biggest couch and flopped down on it, sobs wracking his thin body._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Professor Snape found him like that the next morning. Harry had shuffled around in his sleep and the invisibility cloak had slipped off and under the couch. Harry sat up with a jolt when he felt a hand touch his shoulder, and he curled up in a ball, huddled close to the corner of the couch. Harry had had nightmares all night and many of them had featured the Dursleys, and someone touching him to wake him up didn’t help._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He calmed down a few moments later. Professor Snape was looking at him concerned._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Sorry, Professor,” Harry whispered. “It wasn’t the best of nights.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Professor Snape looked sympathetic, but only for a moment. “It’s time for breakfast. I didn’t see you right at the start, and figured you had missed your alarm. It’s not like you to be late. If you hurry you should be able to get a shower in before the meal ends.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry nodded and got up, making sure to grab his cloak. When the professor looked away for a moment he draped the cloak over his arm and hurried away so the professor wouldn’t see his arm disappear._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________A few minutes later he was dressed and ready for the day. He hurried up to the Great Hall and grabbed some food for himself. Professor Sprout came up to him as he was finishing his meal._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Hello, Mr. Greckle. I have permission from your Head of House to take you to visit Sirius today. Would you like to?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry grinned. “Yes, please! When will we be going?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“As soon as you have everything you want to take with you,” she replied._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I’m ready then!” Harry exclaimed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Professor Sprout chuckled. “Alright, then. We will be Flooing from my office. The fireplace is big enough to fit both of us so we can both go at the same time. Come along now, dearie.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry waved to Ron and followed the Herbology professor. They reached her office and piled into the fireplace. Professor Sprout called out their destination and they whirled away. Harry landed on his feet only because Professor Sprout caught him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Don’t worry dear,” she said. “You’ll get used to it soon enough I suspect.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry nodded, but he was doubtful. They checked in and were taken to Sirius’ room. Harry greeted him excitedly as soon as he was sure the older man was awake._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Padfoot!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Hey, pup,” Sirius answered. “How’s break? Did you get anything good for Christmas? I would have sent you something but these healers seem to think I can’t order something by owl or anything else. I’ll make it up to you by your birthday.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry laughed and told him about his presents. He showed off the ring and Sirius admired it and its craftsmanship._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I can tell the spells on it are pretty complex, pup. Probably Narci’s work. She always was good at Charms. Make sure you tell Draco to thank his mother for helping with the rings.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Harry looked offended. “Of course! I did that as soon as I got to Hedwig after breakfast on Christmas morning. I sent thank you notes to all of my friends.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sirius laughed. “Ok, pup, I’m just making sure.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________They continued to talk, and Harry decided not to tell Sirius about the three headed dog. That would probably not help the healers who were trying so hard to help make Sirius less affected by his time in Azkaban.  
They only spent a couple of hours at St. Mungos, but then Professor Sprout took him back to Hogwarts. Harry decided that she would be a good person to ask._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Professor Sprout, why is there a three headed dog and a mirror that shows your hearts deepest desires in the school?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment if you liked it, and also leave a comment if you didn't like it!
> 
> Next Chapter: A few more classes, and suspicions about Quirrel


	14. A Name is a Name until it's Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids are back and have some free time to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Professor Sprout froze and Harry would have laughed if he wasn’t still mildly terrified that there was a _three headed dog in the school._

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Then she began stuttering. “Well, you see, yes, uh, well…”

Harry cut her off, “If you can’t say, just say so, Professor. I know about the dog, and I know that I’m going to avoid it now, but the rest of the kids don’t know there’s a Cerberus here and they might get eaten by it or something.”

Professor Sprout sighed in relief. “The other students won’t get eaten by Fluffy. There’s charms on the hallway to keep students away unless they’re with a professor.”

Harry nodded. That explained why he was able to get to the door, since he was following Professor Quirrel. But then he thought of a question. “What if a professor kidnaps a student and feeds them to Fluffy?”

“I doubt any professors would kidnap a child,” Professor Sprout responded.

Harry nodded slowly. He knew this was as much information as he would get out of Professor Sprout so he said his goodbyes and left to go find Ron.

Ron found him first. “Harry! Over here! Did you see Sirius?”

Harry ran over to his friend. “Yeah I saw him. I showed him the ring Draco sent and told him how we all had one and he called Mrs. Malfoy ‘Narci’. I can’t believe she likes that name. I’ll have to ask Dray when he gets back.”

Ron snorted, then they made their way to Les Amis’ classroom, talking about inconsequential things while they went.

“Ron, I need to tell you and the rest of the group some things, but I want to tell it all at once, so it’s going to have to wait until the end of break. Sorry I can’t tell you sooner, but I want you to know that I have things to say so you don’t think I’m just keeping secrets from you when I tell you what happened.”

“Can I try to guess?”

“I can give you one hint about one of them, and no hints about the others.”

“Deal.”

“It’s something Sirius told me about.”

“That could be anything!” Ron complained.

Harry laughed. I told you I could give a clue, not that it would be useful.”

With that they burst into more laughter and began walking to the Great Hall for dinner.

The end of break finally arrived and the first chance they all had free time, which unfortunately wasn’t until Friday, Harry twisted the gem on his ring, watching it flash with a silvery light for a moment. He then headed to the classroom to wait for the other four to come.

When they arrived, Harry began. “I have three things to tell you. The first is that I got an invisibility cloak for Christmas, and the sender said it was my father’s. Don’t invisibility cloaks decay as they age? I already tested this one, and it definitely still works.”

Draco frowned. “Yes. Usually an invisibility cloak would begin to lose its ability to hide people over time. If your father owned it, it would have lost its potency by now.”

Hermione looked extremely curious. “Do you have it with you? Maybe we can find something out about it.

Harry nodded and pulled the shimmery cloth out of his bag. He handed it to Hermione, who began looking over it carefully.

“What’s this?” she asked suddenly. “It looks like a symbol of some sort.”

She handed the cloak back to Harry to show him and he frowned. “I’m Muggle raised too, Owlet. I don’t know what this is.” He put the cloak away and pulled out a sheet of parchment. He drew the symbol that Hermione had seen and showed it to the other three. It was a line intersecting a circle inside a triangle.

Draco frowned. “I feel like I’ve seen it before, but I can’t remember where.”

Ron nodded in agreement. “I’ve definitely seen it, I just don’t know when or where.”

Neville also nodded. “Maybe something most wizarding children are told about? A children’s story or something maybe?”

Draco snapped his fingers. “Of course! I think there’s a copy of the book in the library.”

The bell chimed suddenly, making the children start. Hermione began packing up, making sure to grab everything. The boys copied her.

“I’ll run to the library to find the book and bring it to dinner. Astronomy doesn’t start until midnight, so if we eat fast we can look for the story. I’m pretty sure I know where it is.” With that, Draco hurried off and the other four headed to dinner. They sat at their respective tables and Draco appeared soon after. They ate quickly and were soon headed back to their classroom.

“Did you get it?” Hermione asked.

“I sure did. Look at this.” Draco held up a book, entitled _The Tales of Beadle the Bard_.

“The three brothers, of course,” Neville said.

“You were right, as usual, Mandrake,” Harry teased. The kids giggled for a few moments, then Draco found the story. He began reading aloud.

“There were once three brothers, who were travelling down a lonely road at twilight….” By the end of the story, Harry was staring at his invisibility cloak with new eyes.

“So I’m descended from the youngest brother? The three brothers were real?”

“Parents tell their children this story?” Hermione asked incredulously. Draco laughed at her lightly.

“It’s no worse than telling children the bogeyman is under their bed, Mione,” Harry broke in. “Seriously. Am I the youngest brother’s descendant since I have his cloak? Is this even the real cloak? I guess if it was passed down from my dad then it probably is.” Harry was rambling at this point and Draco reached over and ruffled his hair.

“Calm down, [redacted]. It’s not that weird. My question is, did Death really make the three things or were the brothers just super powerful? They would probably have been necromancers.” Draco trailed off, thinking.

“Huh. That’s cool.” Harry, now calmed down, turned to Ron and Neville. “What do you guys think? Do we actually care?”

Ron was the first to speak. “Honestly, I don’t think so. I mean, it’s cool and all, but it’s just a cloak right now. You can hide from everything, so that’s cool.”

Neville nodded in agreement. “For once, Bonfire’s right,” he teased. “It happens so rarely, we should celebrate.”

Ron growled playfully and the boys began a tickle attack. Harry stopped them before too long.

“I still have a couple things to tell you guys. The first should be the shortest. When I was visiting Sirius over break, he told me about he and his friends in school, which included my dad and two other people. Apparently they made a map of the whole school, showing everyone who’s in it, where they are, what they’re doing, to some extent, and it even shows under glamour charms and potions. I think Siri even mentioned that it showed even under the invisibility cloak, which just became about ten times cooler than when he said it before now that we know that it originally helped hide someone from Death. Anyway, I thought we should make something while we’re here at school. Not a map, cause that’s copying, but something cool. Or maybe it will be a map, just not of the school, or maybe we’ll find somewhere that the Marauders never found and we can make a map of that.”

The other four nodded. “We can make it password protected, or maybe just so it reacts to our magical signature, whatever it is we make,” Draco suggested.

“If we want other people to be able to use it, it should be a password so that our kids, or people in the years below us can use it,” Neville suggested.

“Yes! That’s great!” Hermione said.

Harry broke in again. “We don’t have to decide what we’re going to make now, or even this year. We have seven years here. Now for my final bit of news.” He paused for dramatic effect. “There’s a Cerberus on the third floor corridor.” He waited for the gasps to stop, then continued. “I don’t know why it’s here, and frankly, I don’t care, but it’s here. I thought you should know. I asked Professor Sprout about it, and she said there are charms on the corridor to keep students away unless they have a teacher present.”

Neville seemed to be shaking in his boots, but he nodded. “I don’t think a teacher would take a student with them to see a Cerberus, but one never knows I suppose.”

Draco snorted. “I can think of at least three teachers who would want to bring at least some of us to see a Cerberus. Hagrid, because it’s a Cerberus, McGonagall, because we finally got on her last nerve, and let’s be real, she wouldn’t bother killing us with her hands. She’d just throw us at the Cerberus. Snape, cause he doesn’t like children, and maybe Quirrel, cause he just seems suspicious.”

Harry laughed. “Don’t forget Mr. Filch! He’d just love to throw us at a Cerberus.”

By now the children were all giggling.

“But, but, Mrs. Norris wouldn’t like being around the Cerberus.” Ron could barely get the words out around his merriment. “So Filch would be dragging us there without his cat.”

They laughed some more, then Harry, Draco, and Hermione checked the time. It had just turned 7:30.

“We have to go, guys. We need at least some sleep before Astronomy, so we’ll see you in the morning.”

They all said their goodnights and went to their respective dorms to study or sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave me a comment for this chapter. Tell me what you liked, what you hated, what you want to see. I can't promise any suggestions will make it into the story, but I'll at least think about them.
> 
> There's only going to be a few more chapters of this. Like. Maybe three. Maybe it'll be more, but I don't think so. It might even be only two. But then we have next year to look forward to so there's that.
> 
> Next chapter: The end of the year.


	15. Who needs a Name Anyway?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys like this chapter! Please leave me a comment at the end!
> 
> Edit: I forgot a semi important thing so here's the corrected chapter.

The year continued, and Sirius was let out of St. Mungos in February much to his and Harry’s joy. Harry was able to be there when Sirius was released and helped him move into 12 Grimmauld Place, which was a dingy house with a moody house elf named Kreacher. Harry actually almost liked the little elf. He was intensely loyal to his former Mistress and Master who had died. Harry couldn’t blame Kreacher for following the precepts set by his former Masters.

As the year began to wind up to the end of year tests, Hermione became more frantic in her studying habits, and the rest of them were almost as stressed. They all wanted to finish the year on a high note, so they all buckled down to study. Hermione set up study schedules and they followed them for the most part. They spent most of their free time in the library.

DADA didn’t get better. Harry still had a headache in every class, and it was getting worse every time he was in the classroom. Professor Quirrel seemed to be getting more nervous every day as well. He stuttered more, and his lessons were even more sporadic. Harry was nearly ready to just not go to that class at all until the test day and just study independently. He could also tell the only thing keeping Hermione paying attention in the class was her innate respect for any adult in a position of authority.

Exams finally came, and after the last one, Hermione finally came out of her frenzy only to go into another.

“Oh I just know I’ve failed every test! I know I forgot at least one of the ingredients in the Forgetfulness Potion!”

She continued, but Harry snorted at the irony of forgetting a Forgetfulness Potion. Hermione turned on him.  
“What are you laughing about Harry Potter?” she snapped. Harry gulped and ignored the use of his last name for once. 

“Well,” he started. “I was laughing at the irony of forgetting parts of a Forgetfulness Potion, but the idea of you failing these exams is also hilarious, not to mention ridiculous.”

The other boys were standing a little behind him, and Harry turned to them as Hermione gaped at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be the Gryffindor, Ron? Why are you hiding behind me?” Draco snorted as Hermione and Neville burst into laughter. Ron glared at Harry and he laughed.

They continued down the hallway, when something caught Harry’s attention. He waved the others on ahead when they looked at him curiously and went to check it out. He heard a strange voice mutter something but before he could turn around to find out who it was everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm horrible I'm sorry I couldn't resist. I have nothing to say for this chapter. Worth it. Please leave a comment.
> 
> Next chapter: The moment you've all been waiting for.


	16. Names We Call Ourselves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The "final battle" and a little of the aftermath. Canon has officially gone way off the rocker gang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have no idea how tempted I was to let you all stew on the previous chapter for a week. I decided not to because I'm a horrible person, not cruel lol. Please leave a comment below!

When he woke up he was tied in magical ropes. One of them covered his mouth so he couldn’t talk. Without moving, Harry looked around the room as far as he could see from his spot on the floor. It wasn’t much, but what he could see made him nervous. There was a mirror that he recognized as the Mirror of Erised and Professor Quirrel, who still had his ridiculous turban. Harry snapped his eyes closed and relaxed as much as he could when the professor turned towards him. Seeming satisfied that Harry was still unconscious, Quirrel began talking to himself.

“Master, I don’t understand. Where is the Stone?”

A second voice came from Quirrel’s turban and Harry tensed at the high, hissing sound of it before relaxing again. The longer he pretended to be unconscious without being discovered, the more information he could gather.

“Usssse the boy.”

Quirrel turned toward Harry and he knew his time was up. Hopefully Quirrel would use a spell or something instead of kicking him awake like his uncle always used to do.

“ _Ennervate,”_ Quirrel said. Harry shot up, or tried to. He looked around frantically, then saw Quirrel and relaxed. The turbaned professor took off the rope over his face.

“Professor! Thank goodness you’re here! Someone must have kidnapped me and brought me here! Where is this place?” Harry mentally crossed his fingers hoping that Quirrel wouldn’t kill him if he thought that the man was here to save him. His hopes were almost dashed for a moment as Quirrel looked at him in obvious surprise and Harry flinched back a little when the older man reached for him before he could catch himself. He decided it wasn’t that far out of character. He often flinched when unexpected touches came.

“Yes, of course, Potter. Let’s get these ropes off of you.” The professor’s voice was almost strained, but Harry pretended to take no notice as the man untied him. “Come stand in front of this mirror for a moment, Potter. What do you see?”

“I already know what I’m going to see, sir,” Harry replied softly. “I found it during Christmas break. It shows my parents.”

“Look into it now, Potter. It might have changed for you. It does occasionally.”

Harry knew he wasn’t going to get out of it this time, so he went and stood in front of the mirror. He watched as a replica of himself pulled a weird red stone out of its pocket, winked and put it back. Harry felt a weight settle into his real pocket and forced himself not to reach for it. “I just see my parents, professor. I don’t know what you wanted me to see.” He tried to look innocent, but not too innocent. It must have worked, because Quirrel just nodded.

“The boy liessss.” Harry hadn’t forgotten about the strange voice, but he still jumped when he heard it, not having expected it to speak while he was around. “Let me ssspeak to him.” Harry stayed where he was, acting like the confused first year he was as Quirrel began unraveling his turban.

“Professor?” Harry asked. Quirrel didn’t answer. The turban finally came undone the entire way and Harry stifled a scream as he saw the noseless face appear on the back of his least favorite professor’s head. For some reason it seemed almost familiar. It was a face from his childhood nightmares, accompanied by a green light nearly the same color as his eyes. It made him glad he wore glasses, since he couldn’t see his eyes as easily.

“Harry Potter,” the strange familiar voice said. Harry caught himself before he got killed correcting his last name. “I told Quirinusss to collect you before coming into this placcce to find the Ssstone. I sssee he hasss actually done well for onccce. Give me the Ssstone boy.”

Harry froze. How was he going to get out of this? He decided to just stall for now and hope someone got here quickly. “Stone? I don’t know what stone you’re talking about. Is it like a rock? Or maybe a boulder? Or maybe just a pebble? What exactly qualifies a chunk of hardened earth as a stone?” He could tell this wasn’t working, but he kept talking. “And Professor Quirrel? Your first name is Quirinus? Why would your parents do that to you? I mean the oldness is nothing but the alliteration is terrible.”

Quirrel broke in at this moment. “Many of your teachers have alliteration. It is not terrible. Now, give the Dark Lord the Stone, foolish boy,” he snapped. “No more stalling. No one is coming for you.”

Harry heard something, just barely, that sounded like it came from the wall of flames and barely suppressed his grin. Finally. He hoped it was someone helpful like Professor Snape, or Professor Sprout. He slowly backed toward the wall opposite the flames, leading the man along. Then he remembered. Quirrel had two faces. He quickly headed towards the mirror instead, at this point just trying to get away so whatever professor his friends had retrieved could take care of this, _thing_.

He reached into the pocket opposite the Stone, hoping desperately for a piece of crumpled parchment, _something_. His hand closed around a slender piece of wood. Harry almost froze, but instead pulled his wand slowly and carefully out of his pocket and into his sleeve. Then, carefully, he readied his wand for quick removal. Professor Flitwick stepped through the flames and Harry instantly dropped his wand into his waiting palm, sending a quick _Petrificus Totalus_ at the two faced creepily familiar man as he turned to see who this new person was. Harry quickly followed up with the spell to make the creepy man-thing vomit up slugs. He wondered for a moment if it would work on both faces and quickly found the answer was yes. It was a nightmare inducing sight.

Professor Flitwick paused for a moment, then continued on, casting _Stupefy_ and knocking the thing out.

“Good spell work, Mr. _Totalus_. Thirty points to Slytherin for knowing when and what to cast on an opponent using the spells you already know. The slug-vomiting was simply genius. You can’t speak if you’re vomiting, and although some people can cast wordlessly and wandlessly, you need extreme focus, which most cannot keep while vomiting. Very good.”

Harry slumped, almost falling over. Professor Flitwick caught him.

“W-who was that? I feel like I’ve seen him before.”

Professor Flitwick didn’t answer for a minute. “You have. Once. The night your parents died. That is the Dark Lord He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named.” The diminutive professor made sure Harry could stand and walk by himself, then levitated the bound, unconscious, and still vomiting slugs body as he led Harry towards another door that Harry hadn’t noticed.

“This door can only be opened from this side or by Headmaster Dumbledore himself,” Professor Flitwick explained. “It ensures that if there is an accident the headmaster can get here quickly, and also that if you need a quick escape, you have one where you don’t need to go through the traps again.”

Harry nodded, half stumbling as they exited the room. Professor Flitwick led Harry to the Hospital wing, floating the body in front of them. As soon as they reached the room, Harry collapsed on a bed. Madam Pomphrey ran in from the back room.

“Oh dear! Mr. Potter! What brings you here! And Filius! Is that Quirinus?”

“Organza,” Harry muttered. Madam Pomphrey ignored him and continued to interrogate Professor Flitwick, whose name was also apparently alliterative.

“Poppy, calm down. Take care of Mr. _Totalus_ here and I will explain everything. Do not help Quirinus. He is exactly as he should be. Let me just send a message to Severus and Albus.”

Huh. Poppy Pomphrey. More alliteration. Harry guessed that ‘Severus’ and ‘Albus’ were Professors Snape and Dumbledore. Albus Snape sounded very strange so there was even more alliteration. Maybe Quirrel had a point with that. It made him wonder what Professor McGonagall’s first name was and if it also had alliteration.

Professor Flitwick said something that Harry didn’t catch as he was thinking about the professors names, and a strange ball of light blue light came out of his wand. It made Harry feel safe and he automatically relaxed as Professor Flitwick spoke to the ball and it disappeared. Professor Flitwick double checked the unconscious thing and made sure it stayed unconscious as Madam Pomphrey cast detection spells at Harry.

“The poor lad is magically drained! How is he still awake?” Madam Pomphrey sounded somewhere between impressed and disapproving. Harry gave a jaw cracking yawn, and decided to answer.

“Alliteration,” was all he got out before he yawned again. Right after, he fell into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Your comments fuel me so please leave them for me. 
> 
> We are nearing the end of the first part of this series. Only one or two more chapters. Probably two.
> 
> Next chapter: Dumbledore is cryptic and the Leaving Feast


	17. When They Call Me a No Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the confrontation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are lucky. Two and a half chapters in two days. The next chapter will be up as planned at the end of the week.
> 
> The name Snape calls Harry is "pot" in Albanian, according to Google Translate, which means it might not be, but it's what I found. I take no blame for Google Translate having bad information.
> 
> Please leave a review!

When he woke up again, the two faced not Quirrel was gone and Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Snape were there. Harry groaned quietly. Professor Snape was going to murder him. He was going to be murdered by his Head of House, then Hermione would learn Necromancy and bring him back to life to murder him again.

“Ah, Mr. Tenxhere. How nice of you to join us in the land of the living. How are you feeling?” Harry had no idea what Professor Snape had called him, but it wasn’t Potter so perhaps he would survive the coming interrogation.

Harry assessed himself to see how he was feeling. He decided he needed water an hour ago. “Water?” His voice agreed, coming out in more of a croak than actual words. Headmaster Dumbledore chuckled and grabbed a glass sitting on the table next to Harry, handing it to him. Harry drank greedily, only pausing when Professor Snape admonished him to slow down if he didn’t want to choke. 

“Now, Mr. Oddment. What can you tell us about what happened to you the night before last?” the headmaster asked.

Harry frowned. “I finished the tests for that day and went to study for History of Magic with my friends.”

“Mr. Tenxhere, you have been asleep for a whole day and night, and you weren’t brought to the Hospital Wing until nearly morning when you disappeared from your friends’ sight.” 

Harry’s eyes snapped to Professor Snape. “What!? That can’t be right! There’s no way it’s been that long. Hermione really is going to have to learn Necromancy, isn’t she.” The last part was a mumble, but Headmaster Dumbledore still heard.

“I will pretend this once that I didn’t hear you say Miss Granger would want to learn Necromancy, as I assure you, it will not be necessary.”

“You don’t know my friends then, sir. They’re going to kill me one at a time and Hermione’s going to revive me each time so they can do it again. They’re probably so worried.”

Professor Snape broke in. “There will be no murdering, Tenxhere. I’m sure there will be much hugging and screaming, but no one will die from that. Now, tell us what happened.”

“Right. So I saw something that caught my eye so I went to check it out. Then I heard someone mutter something…” The two professors didn’t interrupt, letting him just say it all.

“You recognized him?” Headmaster Dumbledore asked whem Harry fell silent, exchanging a glance with Professor Snape. “I’m sorry for that. The circumstances in which you met before were far from ideal, and the   
fact that you remember that night, however vaguely, is saddening to hear. We had all hoped you were too young.”

“All I remember is a woman screaming, a high, hissing laugh, that face, and a green light. I had always assumed it was just a strange nightmare brought on by barely remembering a car crash that Aunt Petunia said   
I almost died in.”

“Oh, child,” Professor Snape murmured. Harry guessed he wasn’t supposed to hear and ignored it.

Headmaster Dumbledore clapped his hands after a moment of silence. “On to happier topics. Congratulations, Mr. Tweak. You managed to save the Stone. We have since destroyed it, with, of course, the   
permission of Mr. and Mrs. Flamel. They decided they had lived a long enough life and they have enough Elixir to sustain them until they can put their affairs in order. I don’t doubt your friends are out in the   
hallway waiting impatiently to see you. Poppy has allowed them fifteen minutes to see you when we have finished, as you still need your rest. She says you will most likely be allowed to go to the Leaving Feast tomorrow night, so you can still sit with your friends. Now, let’s let your friends come in, shall we?” With that, the headmaster walked to the door and opened it, letting in the four children who were, indeed, waiting impatiently right outside.

“Harry!” “We leave you alone for one second and you get kidnapped.” “You’re lucky Neville missed you so quickly.” “Hah! I noticed him missing too!” The babble of voices made Harry giggle, and then all five of them were laughing nearly hysterically.

“We were so worried, Harry!” Hermione was finally able to get out. “When you didn’t catch up with us, we weren’t sure what happened, so when we ran into Professor Flitwick on the way to tell, well, anyone, we told him that you had disappeared. He told us to head to the Great Hall for dinner, since it was time, and I guess he eventually found you!”

“Yeah, he found me. I don’t know how long he was looking, but as he came into where Quirrelmort was keeping me, I was able to keep Volderrel from doing anything because of his distraction. Never cast the slug-vomiting curse at anyone with more than one head. It is not a pretty sight.”

The group of children giggled at Harry’s names for Quirrel and Hermione gagged at the thought of slugs. Professor Snape got to his feet at this point.

“Ten points to each of you four for realizing a friend was missing and finding a professor. Now, remember, you only have another ten minutes before Madam Pomphrey will tell you to leave, so use them well.” With   
that he stalked out of the door.

Harry turned back to his friends with a grin, and proceeded to tell them about his adventures. They showed the proper amount of awe at his acting skills, and Hermione nearly cried when he explained that he had nearly recognized the face. They left Harry in much higher spirits than he had had when he woke up, and Harry got some more sleep.

He was indeed released for the Leaving Feast. Slytherin won the House Cup, and not only because of the end of year points. The entire year had gone very well for Slytherin point wise. All of the Slytherins rubbed it in the other Houses’ faces a little bit, then went to their Common Room to celebrate and pack. When they finally went to bed, Harry’ head barely touched the pillow before he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Second to last chapter! Hope you guys liked it! Please leave me a comment! They fuel me and make me want to write more for you guys.
> 
> Next chapter: The train ride home and more Sirius.


	18. Name One Thing Better Than This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of the year has arrived and now it's time for the children to have fun over the summer!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Last chapter of this book! Please tell me how much you liked it, hated it, loved it!

The next morning was hectic as everyone boarded the train, excited to go home and see their families. Harry dragged Draco to the carriages pulled by horses with the rest of Les Amis following behind. When they got to the first empty carriage Harry stopped by the horse that was pulling it to give it a pat like he’d seen people do on the television through the cracks in his door or while he was cleaning. He looked at the horse and barely suppressed a scream.

“What are these things?” he asked shakily.

“They’re carriages. What else would they be?” Hermione replied, Ron nodding in the background.

Harry shook his head slowly, barely repressing a flinch as the creature sniffed at his shirt. “There’s horse like creatures with wings pulling the carriages. You guys can’t see them?”

The other four shared a look. “[redacted], there’s nothing there. Are you ok?”

The creature tossed its head and gently nudged Harry. He giggled at its antics, deciding it wasn’t as frightening as it looked. “I’m definitely not insane. They look scary but they’re nice. They look like a horse skeleton with bat wings.” Harry looked over to see Draco was even more pale than usual. “Dray? You ok?”

Draco nodded shakily. “Those are thestrals. Only someone who’s seen death can see them. They’re supposedly extremely dangerous. Father told me about them.”

“I don’t think they’re dangerous,” Harry replied. “They’re friendly. Maybe everyone just thinks they’re dangerous cause not a lot of people can see them.”

Hermione nodded. “Come on, we have to hurry. Almost everyone is in a carriage by now. Harry you can say goodbye to your friend once we get to the train.”

Once they reached the train, Harry reluctantly said goodbye to the thestral and boarded the train. After the train left the station the group began to talk.

“What should we do this summer?” Ron asked. “I know my family doesn’t have anything planned.”

“Oh yes! We should all get together sometime and hang out!” Hermione agreed. “I could show you guys movies in the Muggle world.”

Harry nodded. “Movies are cool! They’re like magic but the Muggles don’t have magic!”

They continued to plan until they got to the Kings’ Cross station, where they all met each other’s parents. Draco dragged Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ron over to where his parents were standing after Neville and Ron introduced their guardians. He finally noticed he was standing with Draco’s parents.

“Hey, pup!” Sirius called. “I’m sure Draco wants to introduce you to his parents so I’m gonna take the honor away from him. Meet my cousin, Narci, and her husband, Lucius.” Draco and Narci both glared at Sirius and Harry stifled his laughter. Lucius just sighed long sufferingly.

“Hello, young Harry. My name is Narcissa. Sirius here has no idea how to make a decent nickname.”

Harry grinned. “It’s lovely to meet you Lady Malfoy. Draco has told us lots about you. Thank you for helping him enchant the rings for all of us.”

“Oh none of this Lady Malfoy business,” she replied. “We’re practically family what with my cousin being your godfather. You can call me Cissa, or Aunt Cissa, if you prefer.” Harry just nodded.

“Father,” Draco said. “Can my friends come over to the Manor every once in a while? We can stay out of the way easily enough, and we can teach Harry and Hermione all about Quidditch!”

Lord Malfoy smiled indulgently. “I don’t see why we can’t arrange something. Now come, Draco, say goodbye to your friends for now, we must be going.”

Draco quickly hugged Harry and waved goodbye to everyone else, then grabbed ahold of his father’s arm and the family disappeared.

“Ron, Neville, I see your parents and grandmother standing together over there. Hermione, would you like Harry and me to walk you across the barrier to where your parents are?” Sirius asked. “We need to be going, but we can get you safely to your parents before we do.”

“Thank you, but I’ll be alright. Mum and Daddy said they would be leaning on the pillar next to this one when they dropped me off at Christmas.”

“Alright. I’m sure I’ll be seeing all of you soon, then,” Sirius said, chuckling.

“Bye guys!” Harry called, waving. Sirius grabbed his arm and they disappeared.

When they reached Grimmauld Place, Sirius gave Harry the tour. “Some of these rooms have strange things in them, so I’d like if you at least don’t go in them without me. If possible, don’t go in there at all, but I’d rather you went in with me and my knowledge than sneaking in and getting hurt. I also have a house elf. He doesn’t really like me, so I try not to use him for important things in case he poisons my food or something. Kreacher!” He called.

“Filthy blood traitor master calls Kreacher?” the small elf who had popped in when Sirius called his name said.

“Yes, Kreacher, I’d like to introduce my godson, Harry. He’s going to be staying with us from now on. I just wanted to let you know that he was here.”

“Kreacher sees,” the little being said. He popped out quickly.

“Why is he like that?” Harry asked.

Sirius looked down at Harry. “Kreacher has served the House of Black for a very long time. My mother, the previous owner of this house, was very vocal about where in her hierarchy muggleborns and blood traitors were. Kreacher seems to have taken her views as his own. Beyond that, my brother, Regulus, was Kreacher’s favorite person here, and Reg died shortly after you were born.”

Harry nodded slowly. He understood loneliness and hearing someone say something so many times you thought it must be true.

Over the course of the summer the kids bounced between their houses. They only had a sleepover once, and that was at Hermione’s house, where her parents could keep an eye on her. They watched movies and learned to play Quidditch. They threw gnomes and grew plants. All in all, they were very busy eleven and twelve year olds.

Ron and Hermione’s birthdays had been during the school year, so of the three summer birthdays, Draco’s came first. His parents threw a huge party where all of their acquaintances were invited and Draco didn’t have as much time to hang out with his small group of friends. The day after, however, they got together to throw a smaller party of just them and their parents. Draco and Ron taught Harry and Hermione all about Quidditch. Harry fell in love with the game and he and Draco decided to try out for the Slytherin team when term started again. Harry and Neville had a joint birthday. For their birthday, Hermione took them to the movies, where Draco, Neville, and Ron watched in awe as the screen filled with scenes that looked like they were made with magic.

Harry also tried to get closer to Kreacher. It didn’t always work, but sometimes, when Kreacher was in a good mood, he would tell stories of “Young Master Regulus”. Whenever Harry asked about Regulus’ death though, Kreacher closed up again and didn’t talk to Harry for a few days. By the end of July Harry and Kreacher were at least amicable and Sirius allowed the house elf to keep many of the things belonging to Regulus.

Over all, it was a good summer. Until the first day of August…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I couldn't resist it was right there waiting. And now you're going to have to wait a whole week to read the next part muahahahaha. Please leave me a comment they feed my soul and my muse.
> 
> Next week: New story! Chamber of Secrets begins!


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